##VIDEO ID:ydIO8e_Fj34## e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] e for for e [Music] [Music] e for for e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for for for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] how [Music] we e e Mr clerk are you ready sir yes Mr Mayor all right perfect well let's call the meeting to order I'd like to welcome everybody uh to today's commission meeting it's truly an honor to have you here today as we have our we celebrate our August 27th 2024 City Hall Commission meeting it's always a pleasure to have everyone here as I've mentioned before you're able to participate in multiple different forms you can either get involved through Zoom you can come and visit us here in person or you can write an email we welcome your participation we look forward to your participation and engagement and you know please free feel free to get in contact with us Mr clerk um to start the day off our invocation from Frank Cornish Ley the Episcopal Church center of the University of Miami good morning sir welcome back it's always a pleasure to have you let us pray pray gracious God we in Coral Gables like to call our town the city beautiful it is a nickname that is very apt to live here is a rare privilege among all of the cities and Villages of this wild wonderful and often infuriating County Coral Gables is is the Crown Jewel yet even within our borders there are those who are poor those who struggle we ask that you help us all of us City commissioners and voters alike help us to seek not our narrow self-interest but what is best for all of us always having a particular concern for the vulnerable Among Us amen amen amen thank you for being here with us commissioner Mendez will you lead us in the pledge please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all moving on to our first first item of the day A1 presentation or Proclamation declaring August 27th 2024 as Doctor's Hospital day in Coral gaes good morning please join us how you doing today doing well thank you Mr Mayor well it's a it's a privilege uh to have you in our community I'm blessed to live within a stone throw of doctor's hospital I mentioned before um my father is a physician at this facility and um you know he enjoys also being a few blocks away from home and the care you provide is exceptional Care thank you so as we celebrate your 75 years would you like for me to read the proclamation first or would you like to speak first um I'll be happy to speak for a couple of seconds if I may thank you um Mr Mayor and vice mayor Anderson and honorable members of the commission on behalf of doctor's hospital I am very grateful for this Honor on our 75th Anniversary you know since its founding we have been an integral part of the Coral Gables community and we've been meeting Healthcare needs of our neighbors throughout all these years and it's really been truly a privilege much has changed over 75 years some of us almost remember that far back not quite but our our core Mission Remains the Same right and that is to provide exceptional exceptional and Compassionate Care to all our patients and we do that because of the amazing Physicians that are dedicated to the care of this community the staff and the volunteers that all come together for doctor's hospital so as we look towards the future we are committed Doctor's Hospital Baptist Health doctors hospital is committed to continue to providing these exceptional care to Coral Gables and the surrounding areas so thank you very much for honoring doctor's hospital today oh thank you so I'll quickly read the proclamation whereas Doctor's Hospital in corg was Florida has been a Cornerstone of the community since its founding in 1949 providing highquality Medical Care and advancing healthc care services and whereas over the past 75 years Doctor's Hospital has Contin continually demonstrated excellence in medical care earning recognition as a magnet hospital for nursing excellence and receiving high performance ratings in various Specialties by US News and World Report and whereas the hospital has established itself as a leader in Orthopedics Sports Medicine Cardiac Care and minely invasive surgeries including its distinguished Miami Heat Sports Medicine Center and whereas dedicated staff and medical professionals at doctor's hospital have shown unwavering commitment to the health and well-being of their of their patients Contin continually enhancing the hospital services and community outreach and whereas Doctor's Hospital has served as a vital Healthcare institution providing state-of-the-art facilities and a comprehensive range of services from emergency care to specialized treatments contributing significantly to the overall health of the community now therefore I Vince SLO as mayor of the city cores along with the members of our City Commissioner to hereby Proclaim August 27th 2024 as Doctor's Hospital day in Coral Gables congratulations more importantly thank you for your for everything you do for our community thank you Mr Mayor can we take a photo may we of course thank you congratulations thank you here three one two may I think A3 we'll move on to A3 congratulations to cor Gable public works department recipient of two American Society of civil engineers Awards and one from the Florida section and one from the miam day Branch recognizing the Coco Plum one pump station and Force main project as the 2024 sustainability project of the year can we have our engineering team come up here is uh is director Mr Diaz here all right we'll just wait a few moments and they should be stepping [Music] up good morning morning sir thank you for being here good morning how are you sir I'm doing well thank you um so I am very well first of all Herman po was director I am very pleased to announce that the our department on the city received U couple of prices actually for the Coca P station one by the American Society of civil engineers uh sustainable project of the Year U the kation one was I believe the first Envision project in South Florida envision is the RightWay version of lead um and um this project you know we use uh materials sustainable materials recycle materials and constru practices that uh got us a um uh an award uh at both the state and county level um so I have here some of my team no poo uh laureno they they want to come up um so we got a you know so we so this is uh her quick question when when was that project uh when did it start I want to say that project started was in 2021 I think it was it was in 2021 I believe yeah and I know it was a heavy lift it was absolutely there was a lot of discussion from the neighborhood and in regards to the need and and issues of Aesthetics and issues of the location so I just want to congratulate you and your staff thank uh for working so diligently uh over the last years to make sure that happened and we brought it online much needed project thank you and one of the critical things about the facility is in a storm sear area so so the criticality of that is that it will survive storm surge um it allow us to restore service to the area a lot more promptly versus what used to be there before um so congratulations thank you congratulations we'll take a photo yes absolutely [Music] than congratulations congratulations moving on to item A4 congratulations to firefighter Jade de de Davalos re of the city of corg was firefighter the month award for the month of August 2024 good morning gentlemen and ladies how are you good morning mayor members of the commission um so our firefighter for the month of August uh I'll equate his nomination to it's always great to catch people doing the right thing um he was nominated by a a city resident he was at a store he noted an elderly gentleman that was having car trouble he was having trouble resolving his issue he approached the gentleman identified himself as a Coral Gables firefighter and eventually ended up helping the gentleman make his purchase and replacing the battery of his car so our motto is committed to our community and I love when our residents catch our folks doing the right thing even when it is not a 911 call call and for that reason firefighter Jade Davalos is our firefighter of the month for the month of August morning commissioner morning city manager and Mr Mayor thank you chief delosa for nominating me for this award I want to thank you guys in administration for this as well as my girlfriend Galina that's here wherever she is um for always being there for Meely done and uh taking care of us all thank you guys have a good day congratulations good job Chief you want to do the second one and then we'll take photos all together perfect uh moving on to A5 so I I promise all of you that I don't stage these things um the second firefighter for July is uh Justin Le Desma uh off duty once again there was a child who had a fish hook lodged in his finger the child became extremely upset about it the incident was kind of escalating he intervened calmed the child down safely removed the fish hook and life went on but once again our folks do an exceptional job every day when they're on duty but they also represent us exceptionally well off duty with their acts of kindness and community service so for that reason justtin Desma is our July firefighter of the [Applause] month good morning sir congratulations thank you very much uh I want to thank you so much for incredible honor being named city of corg firef of the month is truly humbling I am deeply grateful to work alongside such dedicated and courageous colleagues who inspire me every day this recognition is not about me it's about the entire team that that works tily to keep our community safe I want to thank my family and especially my beautiful wife not just cuz she's there but for their unwavering support and the residents of cor gaes for trusting us to serve and protect them I'm proud to be part of this community and I look forward to continuing to serve with commitment and passion thank you thank you sir mayor just uh brief moment of privilege I'd like to recognize Captain Jammer Nunes in his 20 years anniversary wow amazing 20 years give us a few words please few words 20 years come on come on improvise 20 years you've had 20 years to come up with I wasn't even expecting uh this today um other than thank all of you and the chief for doing this especially by surprise um I nothing else to say thank you thank you for your thank you for your service more important let's take a few photos speak no you're not allowed to [Music] yes get my that's what she looks [Music] like G friends here go yeah gab you drink all the forms of caffeine so don't talk I need to figure out get moving on to item A6 congratulations to officer Casey Rivera recipient of the city of cor Gable's officer of the month for May 2024 Chief do we have our police officers here maybe outside Mr clerk go get him police no all right well then we'll move on from may6 move on to 87 congratulations to Ariel Rosario public works department recipient of part-time employee of the second quar award for 2024 good morning mayor Commissioners see you all Raa director of HR so as all of you know it is a city tradition to recognize those employees who go above and beyond during this meeting we are recognizing three of these employees these three individuals have each demonstrated exceptional performance whether through innovative ideas teamwork or commitment to core values their contributions not only Elevate their own work but also strive those around them to strive for excellence so we are St starting with our part-time employee of the second quarter arier Rosado who I Know Chief Hudak always says he's probably one of the oldest tenured employees but I think uh adiel you may have more years than him 36 36 years with the city he retired uh he retired with the city and then came back part-time so I think Dena would you like to say a few words about why he was nominated and why he was selected to be our quarter employee of the quarter absolutely de Bel Green Space Management so proud that I nominated Ariel I'm glad we have the part-time the ability to nominate the part- timage now that's a new a new thing so Ariel retired after 30 years service in public works he came back six years ago cuz he missed us so much right we actually brought him back to he's an equipment operator he's Foreman of all the equipment operators in our division we brought him back to train all the younger people coming into the city on how to use the back hos and excavators and trucks and trailers I call them the Tonka toys right so he's the our Tonka toy expert also um fun fact he knows more about trees than anybody in the city um he's head of our tree succession tree planting he's the field supervisor when we plant trees to make sure they're all done correctly they're not planted too deep they're staked well and they're replaced when they die right oh and they're watered that's very important um anyway thank you iel say something okay good morning thank Dina for this honor and nomination uh as she says yes I did my 30 years I enjoyed it so much I came back part time I was I was young so I started young I'm still young I haven't even hit 60 yet so but I know like she says yeah I've been responsible for the tree plantings or if you see a tree under maybe 30 ft tall I had something to do with it you know all the years of we I want to say I'm going to keep it modest about four or 5,000 trees that we've been responsible I've overseen the planting cuz I've been here you all the Hurricanes and all the damages caused so I've been here for that but I appreciate this honor and I thank you all thank you thank you Ariel thank you very much uh it's a you know it's a blessing to have you here I remember when when we brought you back um city manager brought you back the level of institutional knowledge that you have is something that again is paying huge dividends for us as a community yeah like Dina said so eloquently you're teaching all the up and cominging employees who are you know going to one day take your position again well that's that's a circle of life right that's that's the idea of having a succession plan like the individuals who are who are behind you here here in suppor of you uh who are amazing guys also you know you guys have a great team and you know we're blessed to have you here in the city again every time I talk to the residents or every time I have an opportunity to speak to you or to the guys who deal with the trees or the garbage or any issues like that it's always a smile yeah and an appreciation for the city so I just want to congratulate you on on this recognition it's well deserved one more thing my wife of uh 41 years sitting right there she just retired from the Miami day Police Department pedestrian safety section so my time is limited according to her so we need you enjoy we need you so all right thank you just just uh I wanted to thank you I've seen you in action and uh the skills that you have are not easy to get so thank you for training the younger ones uh to follow in your footsteps yeah um and thank you for what you do you're welcome just take a photo okay [Music] me get behind you [Music] we will your Le outside w Yes actually that is that is her good job yeah L here for the record we'll be deferring A6 to the next commission meeting moving on to A8 good morning again so now we move on to our employee of the month so we're going to start off with Amanda Lasser she is our employee of the month for the month of May she is our city the city's AR um archist uh she works for historical resources and cultural Department the interesting thing is she was actually nominated by Martha pentin it's always really nice when we when employees get nominated from from people outside their Department right it just shows uh the interaction that you know all the Departments have and and how well we work together so um Anna would you like to say a few words good morning I'm Anna peris historical resources and Cultural Arts director I'm very happy to congratulate Amanda on her nomination for employee of the month for the month of May um she's been a dedicated employee of the city of C Gables for 12 years and she's responsible for maintaining and um taking care of our RI Valdes Valley archives um this past year she's been dedicated to working on the upcoming Centennial projects for the city so she's been working with Martha's um Team to launch the Centennial website and in that time she also launched a new archives web page um to share with the public and with staff um all the beautiful things that we have in our archives and what's available for people to come see and learn and um take part of so I'm happy to say Amanda congratulations and thank you again to Martha's team for nominating her [Music] congratulations hello uh thank you so much this is truly an honor um I'd like to thank Martha for nominating me um Anna Cara and Eve and um my husband Danny my father-in-law Phil and Alan just just Allan um and that's it thank you so much thank you very much we're blessed to have you here in the city we appreciate your hard work on behalf of the residents and the business community so you know thank you and to your family for everything that you do for us thank you thank you thank you everybody guys on [Music] purpose A9 so our employee of the month for the month of June comes out of the finance department Karen Rosales she is our so she's extremely important because we get paid because of all her hard work especially with uh the transition into infor she's been doing an amazing job I've Been Working for with her um one-on-one on many many projects and and you truly are a dedicated amazing employee so congratulations and Diana would like to say I'm sure a few words good morning Diana Miss Finance director so it's my pleasure to um recognize an outstanding employee in the finance department who has truly shined over the very short time that she's been here she's only be about 10 months maybe um so she walked into um our department and our city when we were undergoing the new um implementation of the new payroll system so it was a very challenging time very difficult lot of involvement a lot of work and she just came right in and um just hit the ground running and really did help us and make sure that we can get there um successfully um so you know despite that even it was so hard and so many things to go on that were going on at the time she still came in with such a great attitude she was always willing to help always had a smile on her face very positive just fantastic all around so I am truly um uh so proud to be able to say that she um was nominated and that she won this award and that she truly deserves it so we are very proud and we just like to congratulate her for um employee of the month for the month of June so thank you well deserved I will I'm super nervous uh but good morning mayor good morning vice mayor and Commissioners and city manager um it's a pleasure to be here and to accept this award and um I do appreciate the recognition and um but I wanted to take a really quick moment to to mention this is all this is all a group effort um I'm super thankful and and motivated by including you Rael it's such a pleasure uh by having Diana by you know being our director and my direct supervisor Sally um and IED and Erica who are part of the payable team as well who really have had the patience to really get me involved as quickly as possible since I've only been here less than a year um and of course I want to thank also the rest of the finance team who's amazing and so much fun to work with and last but not least I want to say hi to my mom who's watching on YouTube she's in Jersey and to my to my amazing um hobby Eddie he's at work right now also watching um he's super supportive of the hours and all that it takes for me to do and be as present and do the best job I can for the city so thank you all thank you thank you congratulations I want to say thank you for everything you do for the city on behalf of the Commission in the city uh and send my best to your mother in newers Jersey you again those type of individuals are who we are you know they raised us and at the end of the day we have a lot of blessings as a result of them so we send them the best and you know your husband couldn't be here today but again work is a good thing thank you is a good this is the equivalent of putting my my painting as a child on the fridge the good thing is the good thing is it's on YouTube and you can watch it as much as you like and you did a wonderful job there's no need to be nervous thank you let's take a f congrats you can you can take [Music] this put [Music] [Music] [Music] over here thank you [Music] oh you're quite welcome I didn't even tell her congratulations congratulations congratulations well you know moving back to item A2 which is the last of presentations and protocol documents get there soon thank you Mr Mayor um like to call up uh Lauren Cochran and Jason wise of the Florida Panthers thank you both for joining us today um June 24th 2024 was a very exciting day for us in South Florida uh celebrating finally winning a Stanley Cup uh here for our Florida Panthers I know we have a lot of residents in the City of Coral Gables where season ticket holders and our fans so I wanted to thank the Florida Panthers for bringing some joy to our summer this year and we're ready for what the new season may bring I'm going to read the proclamation into the record and then I'll open for your comments whereas in April 19 1993 businessman H Wayne hazinga was awarded an NHL expansion franchise announcing that the team would be called the Florida Panthers and whereas while the first game ended in a tie on October 6 1993 it was followed by the team's first win and first Shut Out 3 days later on October the 9th and whereas it was during the 1996 season that the Panthers would win their first Eastern Conference Championship ultimately facing the Colorado Avalanche in the franchise's first Stanley Cup Final series and whereas in the year that followed the Florida Panthers started playing in their own Arena now the amarant bank arena subsequently followed by the first franchise Southeast Division title in 2012 and whereas September of 2013 was another turning point for the franchise as business businessman Vincent Viola announced his purchase of the Florida Panthers and whereas in April of 2022 the Panthers clinched the franchise's first president's trophy for the best regular season record in the NHL the Panthers finished the season with 58 wins and 122 Points each franchise records and whereas in 2023 the Panthers once again qualified for the playoffs claiming their second Prince of Wales trophy as Eastern Conference champions But ultimately falling short of the Stanley Cup Championship and whereas the 2024 season became the Redemption season for the Panthers where the motto time to hunt was prominently displayed all around the arena and I would say all around South Florida as the players set their sights once again on the playoffs in the end it all fell into place as the Panthers won the first Stanley Cup Championship and franchise history with a thrilling 4 to3 Series victory over the Edmonton Oilers now therefore we the Coral Gable City commission do hereby Proclaim August 28th 2024 as Florida Panthers day in the City of Coral Gables thank you for being with us thank you guys so much and on behalf of ownership and Leadership Bill Zito uh I just want to thank you guys for recognizing it we've um enjoyed our time in the community and seeing the support from Coral Gables from far north and far south we are so appreciative and thank you so much for the recognition absolutely just take a picture congrats we don't bring the rats we're no we're not going to throw rats today all we all throw no everybody throw everybody throw the rats [Music] yeah you know how good pictures that takes 10 a.m. the 10 I do I I didn't even thank you perfect Mr clerk moving on to the approval of minutes B1 for regular City commission meetings from June 11 20224 second all in favor I I thank You2 regular City commission meetings of July 9th 2024 I'll move it second all in favor I thank you now moving on to public comment uh first Speaker this morning Mr Mayor is Mrs Maria Cruz Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road it's wonderful to live in the city of coral was the city beautiful and as usual um this is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad thank you have a wonderful day next speaker Sonia Berto good morning good morning my name is Sonia virto I live at 730 Anastasia Avenue I have been living there since 1991 I have not had the pleasure of meeting you all because uh since then this uh commission mayor has changed and uh I had the last time I came was back in the year 2012 and as you can see my request is to speak to you because I think none of you are aware or were aware of the uh Covenant that exists between the uh builtmore neighborhood association and the somerset academica Charter Schools uh this Association BNA has fought endlessly to come to that agreement to block it to 260 some students which apparently has gone up from the agreement some 20 plus students now Somerset academica has come back to you the Commissioners and the mayor to increase that to over 700 students as you know Anastasia has always always been used as an in andout streets I have seen Presidents since 1991 going back to Reagan okay I have seen Reagan I have seen Clinton I have seen Obama and I don't know who will be the next president that I will have the pleasure to see traveling on my street I want to remind you that during Andrew you use the builtmore the city used the builtmore for the national guards that is a very important Street an extremely important Street for this city because it travels in and out of for some reason it was designated I don't know why however having said that but besides all that that is just a additional information we have an agreement with Somerset AC academica that none of you I repeat were aware of because it has changed 12 years later you're all new on this so you were not aware of it so I'm here coming to you and and telling you I am not I am telling you that there is an agreement with Somerset academica and we urge you to do your share I understand it's an agreement between BNA and the charter schools however you as City officials have a responsibility to the people who pay taxes who live in the city before anybody else who has a for-profit entity and you know I don't have to go into details this is not a real public school you know how the system works and this another school in The Gables is not really in our the corner of our street so I'm here to urge you to do your share as elected officials thank you very much thank you very much uh Mr Mayor I'm going to zoom next uh speaker is going to be David Rena Mr Rena good morning good morning can you hear me yes sir thank you good morning to all uh mayor vice mayor Commissioners Department heads and also residents um I am speaking and proposing behalf of the general employees uh pertaining to the potential resolution bill that uh may be subsequently proposed of a reduction of certain General employees uh positions that Teamsters Local 769 fundamentally objects to and I'll address a few as we go code enforcement we need the code enforcement we need the code enforcement as the city continues to grow uh we need the code enforcement because currently and recently long-term employees have left we need those positions fulfilled um you reference a part-time maintenance worker the residents the police the fire we all need public we all need adequate appropriate fitting signs out there pertaining to the elimination of two full-time or proposed elimination of two full-time Solid Waste workers um you compare 2021 to 2023 and compare it to 2024 of the unprecedent heat related matters within the outdoor industry that we are currently occurring with and currently dealing with not addition to those two that adequate department needs more uh because of the rotation that we're going to need uh the parking enforcements parking within itself quadruples um of of those and you want to put them to a part-time position how's a part-time employee going to grow in the beautiful City of Coral Gables furthermore it talks about 15 positions to be uh untouched uh where we do not protest those we support those um for the record those are all for police fire and it in closing on behalf of the general employees this is a setback instead of moving forward we're now set back again because we're now having to claw back okay we're no longer retention and attraction we need to be competitive this does not put us in a competitive atmosphere we look forward to a fruitful contract negotiations with the city scheduled tomorrow that's all I have thank you thank you sir Mr clerk Mr Holmes good morning yes sir okay three minutes begin um thank you all so much I I want to thank again uh our city manager Amos roas for making City commission a friendly place um moving on uh how hot have you all been have have you been steaming uh have we entered global warming no sorry I got to revise that how have we entered Global boiling and uh I have a slideshow I I'm afraid to say you know the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio gutterz perhaps coined this phrase when he stated uh a few months back that we have moved from global warming to Global boiling and now I'm going to do a slight showing that I I think we have um how hot have you were have you been in the month of August yeah so this shows hottest day on record August 16th uh so your your fears are realized or your your experience is confirmed that's the first slide National Weather Service they're the authority that's a government and then uh there we had the hottest May in history here in Miami so that's incredible right and then yeah the hottest uh day of on Earth the hottest day on Earth July 21st and so then we wonder what about the rest of the world right so we get to that uh look look at this one uh in Australia they're boiling right now and uh even in Iran I don't know if you've been studying the Persian Gulf or something they're they're they're boiling a lot so you know uh I don't know if my three minutes have run out yet hopefully not but I'm afraid this has very serious implications for us think of our tourism how much of a hit this is going to take and um we need I think to protest in every manner that we can find uh we have a governor who's in denial of this therefore he's part of the problem Etc at in an item oh my thank you thank you sir that's it Mr Mayor moving on to consent agenda please before the vote adopting the consent agenda is taken is there anyone who wishes additional discussion or review of any item on the consent agenda none I'll move it I'll second all in favor I thank you moving on to item E1 E1 is a nance of the city commission providing for a text amendment to appendix a site specific zoning regulation section -94 Snapper Creek Lakes of the City of Coral G's official zoning code to include all types of accessory uses in the rear yard ground coverage calculation to remove outdated section A- 94 D2 and to provide consistency with the Snapper Creek Lakes protective covenants by increasing various setbacks providing for severability Clause repear provision codification and providing for an effective date good morning good morning Mr Mayor members of the commit for I think this is a record for you or any other attorney we're we're hearing you before 10:00 oh I know this is good your clients your said this is a good day your clients are probably happy about that too I'm sure once again Laura Russo with offices at 2334 Pont toon Boulevard I am here this morning representing Snapper Creek Lakes homeowners association in their text Amendment and Order order to have their protective covenants uh be incorporated into the city's zoning code um so that there are no issues um with people designing homes Etc in the future so thank you you're welcome Madam director are there any changes from first reading there no changes as requested by the commission the applicant did have a nebor meeting I think in April of this year may I think it was May okay MH and that summary is included in your packet yes wanted to make sure there's no changes for the record does my does the commission have any questions or any statements theyd like to make if not I entertain a motion I'll move it second Mr Mayor we have no speaker cards on this item uh vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes mayor Lago yes we have five minutes before time certain thank you very much have a wonderful day thank you uh moving on to item E2 E2 is in ordance of the city commission providing for text amendments the city of cor Gable's official zoning code Article 15 notices section 15102 notice to require notice to all properties along the Mahi Canal regardless of distance for any new mixed use and multif family developments on the Mahi Canal providing for repeated provision cability clause codification and providing for an effective date this is a public hearing item and the p uh planning official will present the item je Garcia planning official so as discussed our last commission meeting in July um we've um developed some um text M for zoning code to require mail notice along the entire mahik can now which is basically between US1 all the way a little bit past the Granada um um Avenue um Boulevard sorry um this went to Planning and Zoning Board um a few weeks ago they did recommend um had no recommendation because it was a TI vote between 3 to three um last the sth person had to leave early because of their sick um and um that's pretty much it can you do me a favor for the record I reviewed I reviewed the meeting but I'd like to put on the record why why was what was the opposition I mean the concept is is more notice more more residents more businesses that are educated more people in our community that are educated what what was the opposition and why did it receive three votes in know they were concerned that if this might maybe open the door to requireing more specific uh lengthy notifications perhaps they didn't feel that the Mahi Canal was a very different um canal versus other canals in the city was it maybe that they was it was it in in conjunction with that that Canal maybe potentially could have de development in a much larger scale that it could be more impacted was there you know well explained to the board this is the only I'm trying to put it I'm trying to get it flushed out to put it on the record yeah so this is the only Canal actually has multif family and mix you zoning on it the rest of our canals as you know is mostly single family in the back of houses so can I go out on the limb and say that maybe the opposition was maybe conf you know you would want more more input you would want more discussion on the item that's what I'm confused about I also received I didn't receive much guidance on email I just received one one one email in opposition on this matter um and I just was also perplexed by by we why we wouldn't want more conversation in the only area where we can receive more input especially when you talk about something as for example as we're going to be seeing more and more of which is sp 102 which is up and down that quarter and this is also adjacent to University of Miami it's adjacent to US1 it's adjacent to there's a lot of natural habitat that doesn't exist in other areas of the gables and there's a lot of boat traffic in that area so I'm just trying to un and I I want to put more things on the record and have a real conversation and understand why there would be opposition to this and get it and really have an understanding to it so I'm I'm going to share some of the you know discussions that I had with some residents on on both sides of the issue as I think there was a misunderstanding and you know um less is not more sometimes when you're talking about notice uh the property owners uh along the canal are concerned about you know impacts on on the Waterway itself you know if you start having party boat rentals down there if a commercial commercial development allows that type of of traffic we're not just talking about the noise and the pollution but the impact upon the manatees there uh the type of traffic that comes there plus if you have um an ability to to launch a boat there um you have to be careful about what you launch you know we're going to be having trailers with boats backing up to that Canal area and blocking the traffic or is it going to be something that is just you know um something that is not motorized something of that nature I mean this item hasn't come before us yet but we had a similar discussion on the blue Road open space where you know the neighborhood didn't want a whole bunch of cars parking all over their neighborhood to be able to launch a boat from that location and basically destroying the park backing vessels up to to that area There Are Places to launch vessels it's just a few you know miles down the road you know you can go down to Ma and launch you can go to other areas down south to launch that are built for launching vessels you know they have that that area there and the concern is you know we're going to turn this into a Comm commercial um uh business where someone is intruding into the community and you know they're all very very concern I'm sure you all have heard about the manatees and the wildlife there and the need to uh restore that habitat which is a a bigger conversation we need to have with everybody along the Waterway because every single property there uh contributes to the runoff that is impacting the Waterway so in closing the uh one email that we received and I did have a conversation with that Resident they understood why having homeowners who B basically their backyard meets up with with this canal need to have notice to have a constructive dialogue uh with the commission as well as with the neighborhood on what's best for the community so that's kind of like the the groundwork of the of both sides of the argument yeah that's my understanding from talking with them at the board meeting okay again the applicant for the specific project that's probably being impacted the most um they seem open to it you know they've already notified um their neighborhood meeting along the entire canal just for the record I mean again my decision is not based on that one applicant my decision is based on how we going to conduct ourselves across the board um and I don't think I don't think that was the main focus of of the Planning and Zoning board's discussion um obviously it's a big project that that's in discussion along with everything that's being proposed on US1 being a TOD um but moving forward I just I I'm perplexed by the idea of having of not having more more conversations especially when you're talking about sensitive areas and areas that are high traffic where there's a lot of cars I mean I I don't know the exact number but I mean there's got to be tens of thousands of cars that drive through us one every single day so I think you'd want to have more of a conversation um and take every opportunity to have that conversation so anything else from the commission from the from the residents that I spoke to in opposition I think their stance is that they don't feel it's fair that the canal will receive more not notification than the people that are not in the canal but I I agree 100% with the mayor more communication the better it is the more input we have the better it's going to be I entertain a motion make a motion second Mr Mayor we have a member of the public requesting to speak on the item perfect Mrs Maria Cruz that's Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road uh first of all I find it very interesting that some people sitting on our boards will object to more Community involvement that should say something about those that Ved against it the more we involve the community the better this community would always be for some people that are new to this area they may not know that the Mahi Canal is a designated known manity breeding cve that not every Community can say that this is a very special very sensitive area very important to most of us uh I had two children that went to uh West lab and they always talked about the manatees going up and down the canal it is important that you all sitting here elected officials make a commitment to protect the manate and in order to do that you need to protect that Canal thank you Mr clerk that's it Mr Mayor okay a motion a second commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes mayor logo yes moving on to item F7 time St 10 a.m. so um I don't know if staff's available here if I may just add something really quick Madam vice mayor yeah I had a conversation with the city attorney uh before in regards to I've been working on something similar to talk about you know uh pet waste and the way it's been dumping uh the way the way that we're we're seeing a proliferation of of dumping in in residential homes and the amount of residents that have contacted me I don't know what your presentation is obviously haven't looked at it yet but I'm heavily interested in seeing how we can legislate and even if our hands are tied at least we can send a message and and give code enforcement a little bit of teeth to find a way to curb someone walking outside the door and seeing 50 bags of pet waste thrown in their in their trash B so um Martha Pantene had a short present presentation I don't see her here but I'm just going to I'm going to tell you that because uh Nora who is going to give us her own personal presentation and give her the opportunity to present before the commission isn't with us today I was going to split this into two pieces because we need to have this discussion uh the overall concept is to Let's educate first the the residents um on many different levels of the dangers of pet Wass to our waterways to our trash pits to the smell of the area because it it's gotten very very bad and we do need something with teeth in it because what's happening and it's happening in your community it's happening all over you can have a pest waste spin here and people are literally not even making the effort to open the lid and put the waste in they put it into the trash Pit and the second is because um residents who are frustrated with the amount of pet waste in a trash pit near their home uh are putting up temporary signs and I think we need to have a uniform standard um and we can talk about you know how to uh produce that um you know even if chipping in uh some of our commission funds to produce a few signs for for residents who want to you know do that but how we work that up budgetarily is is secondary to the fact that we really need to get out there and educate folks so they were're going to do a skit for us um and uh we're going to have to delay that to the September meeting I I figured it could be fun it could be entertaining but at the same time educational at the same time um I'm going to ask uh staff to go ahead and share this with you in the meantime uh the draft uh presentation so we can all uh provide some input I had one skit that I favored over the other skit because it had more content to it to educate regarding the dangers to the Waterway I mean the fact that when you go to pick these uh trash pit uh waist up that you know these bags are falling to the street and getting run over then now that just washes to the drains and then if you look at the water testing that's done uh on our Waterway you know where the manatees are and why we don't have Eel Grass growing anymore in the Waterway is because of the amount of contaminants that we're dumping in in there and pet waste is just one piece of the puzzle so um so I'm going to ask then U mayor that we defer this and we all get together and uh work on this this project together to help defer you know to prevent this from happening in the future perfect thank you so we'll defer this item to the next commission yes I think we'll start with uh commission items F1 F1 um F1 is a resolution of the city F1 is a resolution of the city City commission expressing the city's continued commitment to the implementation of the Ada improvements as outlined in the transition plan ensuring that work is performed in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and that the transition plan is updated regularly to reflect new data and the progress towards ADA compliance and I think uh staff is ready to give us a brief summary of where we're at and where we need to go with the Ada improvements to our city absolutely good morning again mayor Commissioners vice mayor so the city needs to comply with title of the Ada and we're obviously committed to complying with title two of the Ada what title what title two of the Ada requires the cities to do is to conduct self evaluations of our of our facilities and our services um to determine areas that are deficient of the Ada once we conduct those those surveys or those analysis then we come up with a transition plan as to how we are going to make um Ada accessible or ADA Compliant in 2016 and 2017 the city evaluated 14 of our city buildings 33 City owned and operated parking garages 42 city parks and all of our trolley City stops um when we surveyed those um those facilities to determine where we were deficient in the Ada we also included an accessibility evaluation of the adjacent public rways including the parking for building and Parks public transportation and The Pedestrian Pathways uh we developed a Ada transition plan based on the surveys of those buildings um that transition plan outlines the the timelines and the funding mechanism to address um the identified barriers and to work towards compliance with the Ada by 2029 um the original cost of removing the ident the identified barriers for those facilities and parks and parkings was approximately $1.5 million um that occurred in one point in 2016 is when we received the estimate um we our Consultants are currently updating that cost um we expect that to increase a little bit more um also in 2023 we expanded our evaluation of of our um of our Ada accessibility to the public rideways in the central business district um we identified barriers um we inspected the curb ramps sidewalks cross slopes changing level bus stops pedestrian push buttons accessible parking spaces and Benes within the central business district and we created a 9-year time frame for barrier removal of the rways um our projected cost to complete this project is approximately um $5.7 million um we will be updating our current transition plan our 2019 transition plan to incorporate the RightWay inspections and also incorporate the new time frame and barrier removal for accessibility we will continue um to update the transition plan and the transition plan will continue to serve as the city's pathway for compliance and will be used for planning and implementation of all the Ada modifications going forward so I'm going to give you guys a little bit of background and an ADA law uh title three is the um vehicle under which uh plane if suing U entities will will go to um cause compliance and you don't get a transition plan U with title three and you have a finite period of time you have to finish that that project or reach an agreement for a a finite period of time to get it done typically you got to get it done before the case goes to trial or you're going to pay a lot of attorneys fees and cost uh to the other side um under title 2 we get to have a transition plan we started this in 2016 one would hope that within 10 years we could complete the process but that's not been feasible because we have a very very big city and it's extremely expensive to do we have areas where we have doctor's offices in our city in the in and near the central business district where we don't have Curb Cuts handicapped parking spaces available for individuals to use um so I've been working with staff to try to to bring this home make it solidly within our Capital Improvement budget so that it's not the can that keeps getting kicked down the road um my goal was to have this um phase in and be completed by 2030 clearly that's not feasible it's now 2033 that we'll have to do it but we need to get very serious about it allocate the funding for it in our Capital Improvement budget going forward and have the school to complete this project by 2033 I mean that's you know another 10 years it it's sad it's taking this long but this is a serious commitment and if we are serious about it and we keep funding it and keep moving forward on it it will also help protect the city from getting sued because if we don't take this seriously like other cities our city will be getting sued okay so we need to move forward on its transition plan and that's why uh had asked staff to prepare this resolution to show our commitment to ADA compliance going forward if I may the estimated budget to do what you mentioned was about $7.2 million correct we are yes and currently we have $556,000 in the account yes okay okay we have allocated $500,000 um well that's currently what's in the account and then moving forward um the is for that account to be funded every year to um address those deficiencies all right so uh clearly this is not putting more money into it right now but this is to set direction for staff going forward continue to put money into this because there is a great need okay like other things that we have great needs for here um so if we have no public comment I'd like to move it I'll second commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes mayor Lago yes mov on to item F2 F2 is a resolution of the city commission deny denouncing political violence okay I I put this on for a couple purposes one to show our commitment as a city um to denounce political violence um not only in our city but beyond our city but also to highlight the needs that we have to take a serious look at deficiencies and funding that are on a Statewide level for mental health services um there's plenty of news articles out there I I listened to one that was um put on this past weekend about the difficulties in getting Insurance to pay for mental health services the needs for mental health services at the school level so we can identify individuals that need assistance at an early stage both on a public school level and other school levels we we need this type of support but when we you know cut funding to areas and that are so critical then events like this happen uh we need to identify individuals that need assistance earlier rather than later not after the fact not you know this is a feel-good type of resolution to say that it's important but we also need to as we Advocate on behalf of our city and on behalf our community to make sure that we start at the root cause so um if we have no public comment I'd like to to move this forward I'll move it second she she I you're a second okay that works too the dance step yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor logo yes moving on to item F3 I think this could be a very quick discussion there's an item there's a piece of this that was um that was missing and that is I would like to add for the next commission an update if it's completed on where we are in regards to the PE card uh discussion I think that's important to put that to rest I would like for my colleagues if we're not going to have a full forensic audit I think it's important to have an audit at least of what we can do um I think it's important for transparency and I think it's important to put it out there to do something so I'm asking my colleagues to think you're not willing to provide a full forensic audit of the city to address issues we should do something that that instills transparency and then that ensures that we're sending the right message I um have used forensic Auditors in my litigation cases uh many times and I think there's a framework work in which uh we can identify the areas where there's most likely to be issues that's what I do when I um you know prosecutor defend a case where are the issues where I can Target um and be able to accomplish the purpose being sought um where is are most likely going to be issues and it could be you know we're not saying that there's fraud we're not necessarily saying that there's a problem but is there waste are there efficiencies that we can uh OB M by having a closer look at at things in our our uh our records here um this is an important step you know just like many other efforts to to show transparency within our city I think there is a a desire for this not only in Coral Gables but in other cities that have you know recently passed uh for instance to have a in auditor you know a um Inspector General for the City of Miami and we should listen to what the sentiment of Voters are uh in that vein and uh follow their Direction and make sure that we're doing our best uh for greater efficiencies in our city um reducing waste and reducing the opportunity for fraud by having uh targeted uh audits of areas you know if you know that the police are out there you're less likely to to do things so I I think this an important step moving forward I I I personally think that this is a task that Inspector General should be targeting what departments really need some looking into and from the last commission meeting I believe that we were all in consensus that we were sending the Inspector General to the Charter committee so right now I don't think we are in the right economic state due to employees police Teamsters um to do a full friends that got it and I really really think the smartest way to do this is with the Inspector General that we all agreed that we wanted to go through the through the charter Review Committee and for him to pinpoint which are the critical departments that would need some looking into so two quick points um number one Mr clerk I'd like to have that peard uh discussion and update from staff at the next commission meeting on the on the agenda number two you're 100% correct we all did agree to have the the Inspector General but there's a difference it's kicking it down the curb till the election we should we should put the Inspector General now we could do it can put it on we can put it on the the election in you know coming up now in November we don't have to wait we could have done it before we could have done it easily now we have to wait till the next election post that so it drags its feet so we're not going to have so we wait for the Inspector General we're not going to have the audit for minimum minimum 8 or nine months and we're not going to have an inspector general for eight or nine months so I just want to put it on the record I'm ready to move forward with this I'm willing to meet my colleagues halfway if you want to do a portion if you only want to do certain offices if you only want to do certain departments just to make sure we find efficiencies I'm more than willing to do it just like with the Inspector General I think we're more than willing to move forward on this issue um I I agree with you I had already talked to the manager about having an update on the peard audit next Commission meeting um that's basically what I have said I've been waiting for just to see where we see the most issues um there are departments that have way more transactions than others uh but there may be less discrepancies on on the transactions that we see so um what I would ask of you is I'm I'm willing to meet you halfway let's get that peard audit and finalize the language of what department ments we want to be targeted uh so I think we'll have that next Commission meeting um be happy to work with you on on on Crafting the language to make sure we target the Departments that most need um monitoring commissioner for the record we're not talking about moving forward we're talking about the past when you do an audit it's about the past and what happened in the past the peard audit is completely separate in regards to a forensic audit of the city you can do both there's no issues I I don't want to Kick the Can on the curb anymore I want to move forward let's get the audit in place and let's get the Inspector General in place put it for just we can literally do it right now put it on the put it on the on on the excuse me put it on the ballot for the next election and we move forward and it sends a strong message from this commission if you want to if you want to wait till next commission meeting to see what the PE Card results are I don't have a problem with that but the peard is a very minuscule a very minuscule uh portion of what an audit is you know I get you know my my my my financials are audited for my business quarterly we we have to submit it to Banks we have to submit it to individuals that provide it um so at the end of day it's not a real difficult task it costs money it does uh and I think it's an opportunity so when you submit somebody for example your F your audited financials they can see that it's been reviewed by an accountant that it's certified that it's trustworthy and that you can move forward with that so if you want to wait till the PE card uh discussion next Commission meeting I don't have a problem with it but it's something I think we can handle today Madame vice mayor you were saying I I you know I I do think and I just want to see that if we can work together um the sense of moving forward is you know moving these issues forward and I do think we can move these issues forward and I that's why I spoke about what the what the voters and the City of Miami chose to do to be able to have greater transparency and Trust in their government um as far as allowing the voters to vote on the Inspector General issue we can move this forward as well county is looking into establishing the opportunity for us to uh be able to utilize Inspector General Services I think uh we could send the message that we are truly interested in it if we put it on the ballot that doesn't mean that we fund it immediately I mean we have by the time we vote on a budget and by the time you start implementing procedures it already is going into to the next budget season but perhaps we have an an urgent need okay for an item to be investigated and it goes beyond the scope of what the police department really should be handling then we we hire the Inspector General services but if there's no need you know we're not going to have this opportunity with the county to be able to utilize these Services because they're not going to do it if there's no desire to move forward and I think we can take what happened in the City of Miami is a message that voters want to speak on the these issues as they have spoken on other issues as well as to what their desires are in a democracy we should be able to to do this together uh and go forward um I think it's important because An Inspector General has powers that are far beyond you know someone that just does a financial audit you have the subpoena power you have the ability to take witness statements you can you can dig into things and this is one of the tools that will be needed it takes time to develop this we will have suggestions from staff as to where you know they don't have time to do forensic Audits and it's it's best to have someone from the outside do it because they will see things that sometimes you just may not see you know we used someone outside to be able to do the examination of what should you in the north Pon area for hisor preservation because our staff just doesn't have the time to deal with it they can someone that can focus in and deal on that issue so I would like to see this move forward I would like to also hear the recommendations uh from our staff as to what areas should be targeted and that would be part of the process but I in order to move forward I think this B this commission as a body needs to express the desire for identifying the areas that need uh to be looked at more carefully other than just the PE cards uh and like everything else make a statement to the community that we are willing we are willing to go through this process and have the community know that nothing is is being um hidden from them and we're looking for greater efficiencies all the time I don't think that message has been sent at all I think we've had numerous discussions up here uh and at least my comments have been cleared the during the entire process I wanted to see what the PE card audit which was something I brought to the table when I found out about issues that were questionable uh on what was being purchased with our PE cards uh and that was the reason that I started this process um and what I've said since the beginning has been the same thing I wanted that audit to be completed to see where we are where we stand what the areas of most concern are and you're right it is very finite it's a very small audit that's being conducted Ed because it's just a PE cards associated with their Amazon accounts there are Costco accounts there are Office Depot accounts there are numerous other accounts that aren't even being looked into um but it's not as if nothing has been done I've had meetings with my budget Advisory Board member uh with the manager to discuss different uh um potential ways to audit the uh the financials to ensure that it's not a cost burden on our residents as well um because a $1.5 million audit that will take 3 years to conduct isn't really going to give us the results that we're looking for and it's going to take three years to get done um but again all I'm asking for let's get the results of the of the peard audit I'm willing to work on you know uh finding a resolution that is cost effective and gets us basically the answers that we are looking for and that the community is looking for can I ask you a question if if I may address that also and and we have a long agenda today so I can I'm more than willing to I'm more than willing to to move into the next commission meeting um two things number one as I've said from the beginning it's not about a $ 1.5 million audit sign about a three-year audit we can do things very expeditiously there's ways to work things and lower the cost when you cast such a white net that's why it cost so much money if you notice in the beginning of the meeting I said let's focus in on areas of of of great concern that's number one number two if you go back if you go back and you and you play and you play the record when we when we discussed the issues of PE cards the first time our finance director stood up here and said very clearly that there was no impropriety there was nothing out of the norm that was in regards to the PE cards I look forward to the PE cards the peard uh audit coming back so that we can finally lay this to rest and put it behind us but at the end of the day if you want to have it at the next commission meeting I'll have it at the next commission meeting I look forward to like what the vice mayor said think about opportunities for the think about opportunities for departments think about areas that would benefit from this type of audit find Solutions see if we can call for a private sector entity come in and potentially Do it For Less see if we can engage um you know our our employees our residents our board members to see how we can potentially do something that get more ideas on how we can be even more efficient there's a lot of things we can do here so and I look forward to the PE card to the peard uh discussion when we when we have it the next time so I have that on the agenda Mr clerk correct yes sir all right looking forward to it I have a question about the peak cards yeah um who is auditing the pears we are are uh we have a uh polish shop as U Auditors that who is who is sorry so the uh good morning thank you yes good morning Diana Gomez Finance director so um the chief procurement officer CEST Walker and her staff have been putting together everything all the transactions for the the um the 2-year period we had done the preliminary of about 8 months um the the rest of it um Celeste was putting it together um she did um let me know that she's pretty much done with putting it together we still have to review it um and so um so she has been the one that has been reviewing it and working with the department so um um for the most part what we have been doing is we've been sending it back to the Departments to make sure that the explanations provide as to why what was the business purpose for whatever purchase was made um things like that so to get a better justification of what if there was a need for better justification some things are very straightforward um office supplies are typically office supplies and and who is the supervisor of that department I am you are okay of celest of the procurement Department that falls under the finance department okay so it's not being audited by an unbiased party so it's not being it's not being audited by an outside party no it's being so it's the Departments that are reviewing the transactions um that they had provided um so when we started this celest had come up and explained the processes for which they go through in terms of um uh going through and and auditing the procurement uh peard transactions and what we do in order to review to make sure that they are in accordance with City policies and things like that um every transaction that had happened thus far and since most likely have been always part okay um have always been acceptable for the policy existing policy and past practices of the city um there was some discussion about maybe there's some judgment calls or things like that where the department directors departments have the responsibility for justifying why a certain purchase was NE necessary um and so then that's the additional exercise that we've been going through to see what was there a valid business purpose for all the purchases that were made um so um at to this point as had said before there had been nothing that um was determined that it fell outside of the stated policies nor was there any um improper use of the of the PE card um for purposes of the purchases that were done um so that's what we're doing and so then two years of transactions is a lot of transactions and to go through them and collect them all as well as going back to the Departments and have the Departments give additional explanation if an explanation is needed that takes time so we were um we've been putting that together and so with the budget being the higher priority have not had the opportunity to review it yet with the city manager in order to be able to then uh submit um that audit that was requested may I suggest that at the next Commission meeting we'll present uh the PE card yes the final portion of the PE card in the meantime we'll dust off the risk assessment that was done 2 three years ago for audit purposes did we do uh Paula hadn't we done a yes so in so and then sorry dust it off see even though it's old see which areas that that particular assessment identifi as priority and then uh with the commission's blessing select that the priorities for us to look at to do a more of a forensic audit in that area Paula let me ask you a quick question when was when was the last time that you looked at the risk assessment so our risk assessment was done the last time when did you look at it the risk assessment was done when we awarded the last contract for our internal Auditors in 2017 um and just to the when was the last time you reviewed it so we review it every year and so each year we review the risk assessment that was be when was the last time what was the exact date that you reviewed it um so I review it at the beginning of each budget year um so sometime in October or November of last year as we developed the audit plan for that fisal year just I want to put that on the record because we're not dusting anything off your department does an amazing job and you review that all the time and I've actually gone over it with you um and I've away with staff um you know I think the manager's position in regards to doing the PE card is a great thing let's do it like what like what our finance director said and and also like what commissioner caser just said right now she said is it unbiased is there an unbiased entity that's reviewing the reviewing right I just want to I want to clarify that really quick okay just really quick number one I have the utmost faith and confidence in your department what you do what all of your all your employees do is amazing you tell the truth okay that's number one number two an unbiased approach would be using an outside forensic accounting company to come in and review it that's what I've been saying for some time so we're going in circles but my point is my point is just like we're going in circles in regards to the Inspector General if if the commission pushes it for a vote we would have had it on this ballot in November but now waiting for a body that we appointed to give the same recommendation we're going to give saying it's a good idea whether it comes from the county or whether it comes from the city let's move forward but it'll just be a year later so my point is that I don't have a problem waiting another another meeting and and listening uh but I feel very very confident with our finance director and your team what you said in regards to the preliminary review of the peard that there was no Malou feance and that everything was done as per as per the law so um clarification so um this audit that was requested by um commissioner Fernandez this this particular audit was not done by an outside party right so this one when we first talked about it we said that this would be a review done but internally um from the procurement division as well as getting with the other departments however I just wanted to make it clear that we do through our internal audit process which is an outside company that does fall under Paula's purview and the city manager's purview they do also audit peard transactions when they do a pecard um audit so but this particular audit that we were requested to be done this one was not looked at about looked at by an outside party because we had discussed that we would do it internally at that point in time so just wanted to make sure that that was clear um so but PE cards is something that our internal Auditors have looked at in the past so we'll come back next meeting and we'll review it again I have complete faith that you guys are doing the best job possible but looking at it from a science I ific Outsider point of view professional and responsible that's that's that's an element you have to keep in consideration absolutely and that's why I've said before Let's do an audit with an outside firm I wholeheartly agree with commissioner C I'm happy she's coming around to see it that that's the opportunity and the way it should be done thank you so is it all about attack with you cuz you attacked me you call and you're attacking commissioner Castro and then you blame the rest of us for attacking you I'm not attacking any yes you just talked down to commissioner Castro you owe her an apology I I mean that was completely uncalled for regardless when it comes to the Inspector General you continue with your talking points your campaign manager has put out for you and let me tell you they're completely wrong we have a process in the City of Coral Gables when it comes to changes of the charter it goes to a charter Review Committee that's what this body unanimously voted for but then all of a sudden you had a change of heart because you wanted to play politics so that you can go out and put money into your pack from developers and put out text messages attacking the colleagues who are trying to follow the process and your pack continues to send out false information on a regular basis you want to talk about political violence you are the politically violent person on this commission continually trying to divide our community enough enough may I respond to you sir I mean you're you're going to say whatever you're going to say anyway okay so first off you're wholeheartly incorrect not attacking anybody what bothers you is that I put the truth on the record no that's number I didn't interrupt you just give me the give me the opportunity okay we're going to move on because obviously I can't get awarded let's move on Mr Mayor before you move on I have members of the public re speak on this item Mrs Maria Cruz Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road and I forgot mrss because I'm I'm so let me find myself since this is a wonderful day that the Lord has made let me turnone it down a little bit I am tired tired tired of this commission number one no following Robert's Rules we do have somebody who is expected to make sure according to our Charter that Robert's rules are followed I have never seen Tom Wells was here sometime short time ago and reminded us that if the chair is going to be proposing something and talking about it the G has to be moved well forget about that we don't follow rules we do whatever we want that's the comment on that the second comment since I was the one that brought up the the issue about the PE cards since I was the one that brought up the issue with the employee that was depositing City checks on her own or her mother's bank account since I'm the one that believe it or not I don't have a uh Ouija board or a black ball that tells me what to look after there's employees in this city that tell me that there is reason to check and that's how I know what to ask for employees that know that as soon as I requested the PE cars we had employees from all departments finding ways to maneuver so it was not nothing wrong and when we keep saying oh there was no more feces there was nothing wrong we are not telling the truth I'm sorry I'm going to say it again we are not telling the truth there was no way that by saying that you know the department head the director signed off on it the department head and the director did not have the right to buy stuff for people to cook in their office the department head did not have the right to do to buy thousands of dollars on coffee so people could have them different choices of coffee or special drinks for the boyfriends I'm sorry the fact that somebody hire up approved it that somebody up it wrong and our money should not be used for that and I'm tired of the accusations and I'm tired of Contin say and you know talking about talking about transparency did anybody did any of you know that that wonderful glass partition that we have protecting the security of the mayor cost the city over $14,000 no well let me tell you that's what it cost okay to protect his safety and I guess his employees safety because the rest of us who cares okay and let me tell you not long ago and I'm sure miss G knows and has a copy cuz I have a copy too there was an audit by the outside firm specifically about the PE cars and found a whole bunch of stuff that was wrong and suggestions on how to fix it and guess what it was not fixed because we continue doing because we do not like to have scandal in this city when I came here in front of this board and talked about the checks being deposited in the person account oh my God first time that we have problems in this city no we've had problems before and we will continue having problems as long as we try to cover it up the people that are looking into it need to do the right thing instead of suggesting how to get out of the problem okay I'm sorry I don't care who approved it if you use tax money to make sure that everybody had 550 different types of coffee or 500 different decorations for Halloween and for Thanksgiving and for weddings I'm sorry our taxpayers do not think that that's okay regardless who who approved it whether it was the city manager whether it was God because they talk to him I don't care what's wrong is wrong and let's stop the unigas and keep track of that for over 14,000 for protection for one person next speaker Jackson rip Holmes Mr Holmes good morning sir uh greetings uh this subject really makes me boiling mad um number one what you've been proposing is a coverup audit it's not a real audit um uh the audit that needs to be done is an audit of uh developer contributions uh to uh election Coral Gable election candidates and uh what they've gotten out of it um now I have a question for the City attorney because I think you're giving conflicting signals um Madam City attorney um uh first I want to disclose um I've been in touch with propublica if you don't know this propublica is one that has proved what you've seen in the news that Clarence Thomas the US Supreme Court Justice is guilty of bribes and I've asked them to do an audit on the people here that are taking money from developers and they have not said no um so I have a question City Madam City attorney is it improper for that to be done I'm sorry for another organization to audit we are if you know there are I'm asking you a question if if if if prua is willing to do an audit of the influence of developer money in the City of Coral Gables is that improper so we have no control over this organization that you're mentioning sir so you're saying it's not improper I don't know I I don't know I have no information about the because I have information that you've told people such an audit would be improper I have not given any opinion as to any such audit and so if I can prove otherwise then uh then you're not telling the truth right now and I think I I can prove otherwise I don't know what you're talking about Sir if I may well due respect why don't you sit down with the city attorney and have a conversation I have already done that and and she's giving misdirection to different people including to me and I I believe I can prove it and I think the best thing is to not have a and so I'm I'm I'm going should I may I infer there's nothing improper about prua which proved that Clarence Thomas is taking bribes uh from doing an audit of the City of Coral Gables and developer influence is is it correct there's nothing improper about that again I don't what do you mean by improper I don't there's we don't control that organization so you know I I don't know what they would be doing to to to to do such an audit so I'm happy to talk with you um after the meeting or during a break and maybe get more information making exception to your giving uh telling me one thing and telling people uh in the leadership of the city commission other things and I think that's improper thank you I I have a quick question Mr Holmes just understand a little bit and I apologize um so what you're saying is what has been discussed here about internal audits uh into PE cards and other things you're saying that your concern or perhaps concern of others is not only what's happening internally but the impact or the influence of outside parties uh having an impact internally in Coral Gables the outside impacting the inside is that what you're alluding to yes and and to elaborate um Javier Banos who knows the subject matter uh has has said that of all the contributions made to uh city election candidates 80% come from developers and only 20% come from all taxpayers combined so it's as if to say that citizens united has legalized buying uh City Hall uh around the country and um so when we have that kind of disparity the audit that needs to be done is uh who gave how much to which candidates and what did they get for it perfect well my advice is put it together present it before the commission You' like speak to the City attorney speak to the manager and we can move forward thank you for being here okay thank you Mr clerk that's it Mr Mayor all right perfect well we'll bring it back the next meeting uh moving on now we have a Time certain for 10:30 G1 good morning G1 is a resolution of the city commission accepting a proposal concept from artist moral duet and approving the fabrication and installation of the sculpture secrets that the wind carries away authorizing the city manager or his or her designate to negotiate in agreement with the artist authorizing an amendment to the fiscal year 2324 amended budget to recognize as Revenue as a transfer of $110,000 from the art and public places reserve and appropriating such funds to put towards the infrastructure cost and related expenses regarding the artwork thank you good morning good morning mayor vice mayor Commissioners Katherine cathers arts and culture specialist with the city if we can pull the presentation for G1 please we also have Adler gerer an appointed member of the Arts advisory panel and gianina Bergos an appointed member of the cultural development board they are here to speak on behalf of their respective boards and answer any questions the commission may have for them they're over there just acknowledge them thank you to the members for being here you do an incredible job besides being members ad you're an amazing artist and we're blessed to have you here in the community we are also joined today by the Morel duet are you my right and he will take over once we get into the specifics of The Proposal I'd like to briefly review the process we followed and the resulting recommendation y y if we can have the presentation please well while they're loading it I can just start talking so the city commission has consistently expressed interest in building the city's permanent public art collection with artworks by prominent artists representing A diversity of backgrounds and disciplines on September 13th 2023 the city commission passed resolution 2023 244 approving artists to submit proposals for a commemorative public artworks aligned with the city Centennial to honor Bahamian and black residents at this time we presented details about the proposal project and i' would like to take a brief moment to restate the highlights and project goals Coral Gables has one of the few National and Regional historically designated black neighborhoods in the State of Florida the McFarland Homestead historic district this traditionally known Bahamian neighborhood extends into Miami and includes a nearby Golden Gate neighborhood in Coral Gables our opportunity was for the city uh committing to Comm Mission and dedicate featured artwork acknowledging this Heritage and the people who contributed to the literal and emblematic development of the city the project goals were to be a model of Heritage preservation be sensitive to Neighborhood concerns and values promote excellence and artistic creation celebrate and serve the local community Advance collaboration dialogue and engagement and contribute to a healthy sustainable Community 10 pre-approved artists were invited to submit proposals and participate in a site visit artists met with community members and were provided with additional materials to help inform their proposals including historical documents and responses to resident feedback about the project eight of the 10 artists submitted proposals which were shared with the community and were available on the city's web page three of the artists were asked to further refine their proposals for a second submission Arts advisory panel and cultural development board members unanimously recommended moral duet who continued to meet with community members and presented his proposal concept at the lolab be Walker homeowners association meeting on August 7th 2024 the Arts advisory panel made a motion recommending approval of the artist to move forward with continued refinement of the final design and on August 20th 24 The Cult development board made a motion accepting the recommendation of the Arts advisory panel and recommending approval of the artist and proposal concept to the city commission I want to tell you just a little bit about Morel it's a little sneak peek so maral's born in 1990 he lives and works in Miami he is one of our prominent Regional uh local artists he has his BFA in Ceramics from the Maryland Institute of College of Arts and has continued to do uh um multiple he may want to touch on that when he speaks but he has continued um to study in different um institutions uh crafting his refining his craft and he is represented by Gallery mertis moral deset is Haitian born as I said multi uh Miami based multi-disciplinary artist and educator his work utilizes Ceramics illustration and prints to discuss the impact of climate gentrification migration and displacement affecting black communities in the African diaspora his em em nominated work has been featured and reviewed in numerous sorry I'm reading off of the the slide and my eyesight isn't quite great um reviewed in numerous Publications including Vogue Mexico the New York Times Oxford University press hyperallergic PBS and Ebony magazine vet's work is held in collections of the press Art Museum Miami the Tweed Museum of Art the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami the Plymouth box Museum pushi Family Foundation collection of African-American art Microsoft Facebook and Royal Caribbean as an educator Morel duet has taught at the Coral Gables Museum the perz art museum and at the Lewis art center which is located in the McFarland historic district and now I'd like to bring up morale to run through the presentation good morning sir how are you I'm doing good it's a pleasure to have you it's an absolute pleasure to be in front of you guys this morning um so as caten mentioned um I'm a local artist based here in Miami Florida I'm a proud graduate of new SC the Arts High School and I have my BFA and ceramic from the Maryland Institute College of Art and as a educator um I was part of the inaugural team of Educators that opened up the Perez art museum in 2013 and then from there I transition to teach at The Institute of contemp art Miami as well I've done classes at the core GES Art Museum as an artist um I use many kinds of medium um one of these mediums is ceramic um which is deeply embedded to our human history um my work is labor intensive there's a lot of elements that references nature and the biodiversity that surrounds us and I use a lot of Flor and FAA from different neighborhoods to create portraits of residents in South Florida as part of my practice um a larger scale of this work was presented at the Museum in North Miami um back in 2021 so the title of the installation is called secret that the wind carries away and this is a visual rendering of it um I'm imagining residents would be able to engage the work from a 360 point of view so as they're in mavic park you'd be able to walk completely around the entire um um parts of the work go back um from the team of Fabricators I'm estimating the work would be about 12T long in around 7 ft high in in length with a production timeline of about 11 month so from October through the end of December would be the work for the through the Ming of the project it once that is approved would go into the fabrication of the actual work give me one second so secret that the wind carries away is a work that transcends both time and space it pay tributes to the city's cultural heritage while honoring the black and bamian residents they have played a vital role in the community the sculpture features a majestic boat as the centerpiece and it serve as a powerful as a powerful metaphor for the journey undertaken by countless black immigrants across the ocean in pursuit of a better life the word stands as a tangible symbol of resilience determination and it embodies The Immigrant experience in their unwavering Pursuit and spirit towards New Beginning surrounding the boat is a bed of flowers um which will consist of native plants to South Florida um each of these Bloom represents the unique stories in contribution that reflects the diversity and unity that characterize the city of Cory Gables secret that the wind carries away it encourages viewers to reflect on the shared journey of humanity and recognizes the sacrifice and aspiration that unites all of us the title is suggest the transient nature of stories and secrets that are hidden and carried away by the wind it underscores the importance of acknowledging and preserving The Immigrant narrative and how it's integral to the city Collective identity the work it stands as a testimony to core Gables in how the city is inclusive in a appreciation for diversity and Heritage it promotes both residents and visitors to pause to contemplate on the profound narrative that shape the city it Fosters a deeper appreciation and understanding of history in South Florida along the perimeter of the boat will be names of the families that have paid their contribution to the city um and so the list will comprise price of over 30 names around the entire perimeter of the boat on the inside of the boat will consist of different items um as part of the journey um these items would vary from food to storage luggages different thing you would take with you as a traveling immigrant leaving one country to start a better life and these items were in conversation with residents in the Community um from a community meeting that I was a part of so these are additional details for the boat um and these are some sketches of the face of what the people would look like inside of the ver Bo and then want you take these sketches and you apply them in a threedimensional format this is different capacities of what can happen um with the actual work and again some item from the boat that was discussed with residents from the homeowner meeting and then in terms of the patina for the artwork this is a color combination that I would like the work to be about and then for the landscape I'm going to work with Damian um he's a local landscape um artist here in Miami and his recent project was with Royal Caribbean which is a project I was part of so I'm looking forward to working with him on on this project and then these are some native plants that we discuss that are native to both the Bahamas in South Florida that would be a great piece that connects the idea of travel the 3D modeling would be completed with a Baltimore based company um I've worked with them before in the past so this would be a second project I would work with them so they would complete the 3D model aspect of the project and then from there we would work with UPA which is also doing a project here in the as well and they would be the fabricator to the project um these are some other projects they've done before in the past around different cities here in the US and then this is the process we'll do a wax casting and the wax will be melted and eventually becomes a bronze work of art thank you wow absolutely gorgeous it is it's it's amazing yeah so I want to congratulate you um I've had the pleasure of seeing your work for some time as it's evolved U through Katherine and and um other members of the community who have been engaged in this I want to thank Martha also Martha mantin uh for her involvement in this and making sure that you know this was something that came before us on the Centennial um this is I think something Splendid um my question to you is where are we going to Showcase this work CU that was something that you and I talked about a lot and there was all positive conversation everything was good but I want it to be something that is prominent something that uh gets a lot of eyes on it because it's important to tell the work is beautiful but it's important to tell the story so we still had on the presentation um if you want to pull it back up we weren't quite done okay and I also like to hear from our friends from the neighborhood uh I know that they've they've given their input and they've been very involved which is critical but I want to make sure that you know we pay homage we pay homage and respect uh to to individuals who you know built this city in in more than one way not just with their bare hands but also help build the city with George Merck I want to make sure that that they are ecstatic not just happy that they're that they're proud of U of this beautiful sculpture so just uh quickly and and then I I'd like to respond a little bit to those remarks if you don't mind um uh the location itself um we are recommending installation for the artwork within mer park across from City Hall on the west end of the park the proposed site does not conflict with the current use of the park including the Park's annual holiday installation and is the preferred location of the community being commemorated and you'll see here another uh mapping that does show some of the new trees that have been planted so it will not conflict with that we will work around um the existing uh heartscape and Landscape of the park and and then kind of in aligned with that the funding this is a review of the project budget funding for 5 530,000 was previously approved for the design engineering and Fabrication the proposed installation does require funding for additional site Work Foundation Landscaping lighting signage and Outreach materials we estimate that at this time to be about 110,000 and our proposing us through the art fund so you can see as Morel um noted in the image that it's important for people to be able to walk around the whole piece and see it from the different sides uh so we would like to to um person that that vision for the work the cost of the annual maintenance uh we believe will be it be assessed and may be proposed for use of the general fund as ordinary maintenance to be included as part of the state's annual public art maintenance plan that is not in stone we understand that this is uh may require a little bit above and beyond because of the intricacies of the bronze work um but we will address that uh once we have more information about it um to your to your point mayor of of uh the interaction with the community we we put down a a very short timeline of this project and what it's been through so it has gone to the community numerous times they've been very involved it's just been a pleasure working with them hearing hearing from them and the artist and Community are Community are committed to continuing to work together there may still be some minor uh revisions um to address things that different design decisions that may be affecting uh technical aspects of how the piece drains etc etc um and how the plantings work around the piece so there may be some slight modifications and um that's what we have for now and if we'd like if um Adler or I'm sorry if Mr gerer or Miss Bergos would like to say anything on behalf of the boards I'd like to invite them up and then of course hear from the members of the community good morning morning you hi EV um the AR advisor panel we were enthusiastic um with Mr D's presentation um he was quite responsive to our guidance to really make a sculpture that tells a narrative I mean if from the title from the very poetic title of his um of his sculpture from touching on the story of migration from touching on that 100 years years of Co GES and his relationship to West Grove as well um all that is embedded in the in his sculpture I think this is sculpture that when it will be seen a year from now will be embraced not just by anyone who walks by CD Hall but it's I think it's a sculpture that in essence invite ones to participate along to go along this journey it's not a perilous Journey it's one that seems to be um calm even the destination is known and a kind of um even if I want to say a utopian Journey that's going to a place that there'll be benefits to it at the end so I think this is kind of work we are attempt to commission here from Mr so that's tend to be the general discussion at The Advisory panel thank you yeah thank you the cultural development board also is very thrilled and excited for this uh Mr D put a lot of work there's a lot of meetings with the community um it's a story that needs to be told it's something that um the community needs to be honored and we're we're very excited to have this as part of the Centennial excellent thank you very much Madam vice mayor so um I'm very very happy to see this come in for a landing I know several years ago I've been started my conversations with Carl Prime and saying listen we need to reach out to the community because as far as art in our community it was an underrepresented area in our community and wanted to bring it in close to City Hall so it's a appreciated by everybody this is a great example of what art should do in our community um it brings Joy it it brings people together um and I think it's it's about time that we honor you know the history of people that without you know this city could have never been built including you know the building that we're in right now so thank you for all your hard work uh I'm looking forward to it get people talking sir first off that's the best PowerPoint presentation I've ever seen and I know it's great because I was moved just watching the PowerPoint secondly uh that sculpture will be immediately my favorite sculpture in the City of Coral gaples it's impactful it's beautiful it's breathtaking and one thing and I love the location because between the Christmas Park between the farmers market the amount of people that'll see it but most importantly and I think we've all experienced this the younger Generations as years go by don't know about the past and don't know about the journey everyone took but since there are so many kids and young people that go to that area it'll be a lesson for Generations on so between the amazing work the location and the involvement of the community I think it's I think it's the best thing we've done in years um I had the opportunity to be at one of the community meetings one of the early ones where we had different artists come out and speak and I was impressed by the way you spoke to the community and your desire to learn of what they wanted in the art piece um some artists were there just basically to present what they wanted to do you wanted to hear from the community as to what they wanted and having the community here present today I think shows that they're behind this shart piece because it does tell the story um I remember some of the comments that day were we want to make sure that the story is told of what each of these families did for this community and you've done that by incorporating all the names into this the story and it tells the story of where we where they came from and how they became what is Coral Gables I was often called the prime and Cooper families part of Coral Gables royalty because they are um because they were the first residents of the City of Coral Gables uh as were most of the families that are are list there um I also wanted to thank Gabe Bond Durant and uh Joanne Mah who were also part of this process and I don't see them here today but I know that they were instrumental and also shepherding this process along uh Katherine you're your work and uh that of the board um this shows you that Community involvement can bring us to a place where we have something that commissioner Menda said will be something that we will remember for years to come and we'll tell the story of this city and we're getting ready to celebrate our Centennial this is a part of our city that we really haven't told that story that hasn't been told but it will today and thank you for bringing it to life it's absolutely gorgeous and I don't think I've ever said that about any art piece presented here to the commission so [Music] that's so that's that's really good news first time for everything right was the first time um thank you for bringing this and for the opportunity for this City to have this art piece it's absolutely gorgeous and for me it's an absolute honor um it's been a labor of love and I hope to bring something that is going to be part of the city's Legacy forever so absolutely thank you thank you Mr clerk uh Mr Mayor we have members of the public requesting to speak first is Carl Leon Prime Mr Prime good morning how are you it's good to see you good to see you good morning well as they say good to be seen um I'll dispense with all of the normal stuff um this is one of those projects where someone actually took the time to listen be involved and members of staff and everyone else actually listened um say that we are pleased with it and I'll defer to the rest of um my distinguished elders and uh let them make their comments thank you Mr Kirk thank you Daisy Fuller Miss Fuller good morning it's good to see you thank you for listening to us this morning my my name is Daisy Fuller I've been a resident of city of cargas for 61 years my family was raised in car Gables I came in carges when I was 12 years old and it hadn't embodied what my mom taught us when she brought us to the city of car Gables she wanted the America dream for us she wanted us to have an opportunity a future and I have 11 I have three generations of my kids I have great grandchildren and I'm 81 and I've lived in car Gables I went through the school system they went through the school system so I thank you for this uh sculptural piece that we have here because it embodied what we were brought up by it's all about family passing it on to the next Generation I won't be here probably when the next Generation comes through but if they look at that sculpture piece they will know what we went through and what we had to do to get here thank you very much for listening to me thank you thank you Miss mury Cruz I told you at the beginning it was great to live in the city of KAG was Maria Cruz Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road this is the way that art pieces should be approved in this city the community the place that is involved when you see a community like this welcoming what your what is being proposed it makes my heart feel great this is the way we need to do it not the developers choosing what they want in front of their buildings but what the community wants to see there thank you Mr clerk Leona Baker Miss Baker good morning thank you for being here with us no worries take your time take your time take your time take your time no rush we're both bless to have you here [Music] [Laughter] today good morning to everybody morning morning morning I am Leona Cooper Baker a resident of the Golden Gate subdivision where I have lived for 87 years I was born there and I still live on the same site I would also like to thank all of the members of the planning committee for meeting with us regularly so we would be kept a breast of this great project Mrs cathers Mrs Mar panene the artist all of your names some of them Escape me but thanks to all of you now let me tell you what I think about the artwork I think this ship is a unique and purposeful way of recognizing the efforts that were made by so so many of the Pioneers the listing of the names will surely remain forever and their contributions were immeasurable for you see I remember many years ago in 1949 that was the first homeowners association it was called the Carl Gable Civic Club I was in seventh grade so I remember that and later on it was reborn and organized by my sister the late Leona Cooper B Leona Cooper um we've been through a lot and we're very pleased now let me tell you what I think about this artwork I think this project sends a positive message to the whole Community the McFarland and golden gates neighborhood will re receive this historic Accolade and that will be a lasting one for us for you see my friends good things have happened in these two neighborhoods thanks again for listening to me and I know you will all accept the proposal I'm very happy to be here with you having just reach 87 years old and I speak for a lot of people who are not here with us us today and I miss them as I stand here before you thanks again for listening to me and if you need to call me sometimes call me I'll talk thank you m Mr clerk thank you that's it Mr Mayor all right well I'll entertain a motion I'll move it second commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes Vice mayor Anderson yes mayor logo yes thank you very much moving on to item G2 G2 is a resolution of the city commission accepting a donation through the Coral Gables Garden Club for a proposed artwork by artist Javier cordal authorizing city manager and City attorney to execute a memorandum of understanding with the coral GES Garden Club in order to effectuate the donation good morning again thank you if you can bring up the side presentation there were a couple slides before then but that's okay um see if they come up all right well um this is a different presentation Mr clerk I just wanted to review the the uh summary of the process that we took to get here and uh basically the the city has a a donation policy and that includes the um you know that's that's okay we'll we'll just we'll work with it there's a donation policy in place establishing a procedure for the review and recommendation by the cultural development Board of non- monetary art and cultural donations so the Coral Gables Garden Club has a history of donating artworks and cultural uh pieces that are significance to the city the Garden Club wishes to commemorate their Centennial Milestone through the beauty of public art while highlighting the importance of supporting pollinators within our shared ecosystem the Coral Gables Garden Club approached the city with a proposed donation of commissioned sculpture by the artist Xavier cortada on August 7th 2024 the Arts advisory panel reviewed the proposed artwork concept and recommended acceptance to the cultural development board on August 14th the library Advisory Board reviewed and proposed art the artwork concept and made a motion supporting the donation with placement at the Coral Gables Branch library on August 20th the cultural development board reviewed the proposed artwork concept and is recommending approval to the city commission today just want to go over a couple of additional considerations before I turn it over to the Garden Club the city does own the property at the proposed location of 34 443 sovia Street the property is currently occupied by the Miami Dade County Public Library system and they are aware of the request and has prelimin has preliminarily indicated their support subject to negotiation of a separate agreement outlining maintenance and insurance requirements upon acceptance of the artwork the cost of maintenance is proposed through use of the general fund as ordinary maintenance and will be included on the city's public art collection list for insurance purposes as for the previous item we do have Mr Gary and Miss Bergos here from their respective boards should the commission have any questions for them and now I would like to introduce Bonnie syy with the cor gaes Garden Club to present the donation request and introduce the artist Exavier cata who will proceed with the presentation good morning thank you for being here with us good morning morning I'm Bonnie s president of the C GA Garden Club so this year we're celebrating our 100th anniversary and we're super excited about all the things that we have planned for the past 100 years we have been a prominent and positive force in our city throughout the years the club has speed many projects including some you just heard of um the construction of three new city entrances the creation and funding of the two Bron statutes George Merck who you see every morning when you come to work and Alia mer who is in her garden at the mer house we recently were participants and collaborators in the hammock restoration of the Girl Scouts camp mahachi project and we've planted pollinator and edible Gardens at local schools and have helped shade school campuses by planting trees through our project canopy project in addition we have funded countless summer camp and college scholarships throughout our 100-year history our centennial celebration includes some really exciting events um we have some pollinator Garden Grants that we're giving to elementary schools to help them learn more about pollinators we're making a plant coloring book that'll be used by the library and also in conjunction with the art piece we're going to tell you about today and for the first time since before covid we're having a centennial Home and Garden Tour on November 16th featuring the homes of some of our past presidents in our historic district um we're also going to be doing a historic Exhibition at the Coral Gables Historical Museum from January 23rd to March 16th as part of the whole Coral Gables history exhibition that'll be there and we're having a anniversary celebration party on March 20th at Fairchild Gardens but the reason I'm here today is that Xavier cortada is creating a sculpture for us to donate to the city to be placed in the butterfly garden um he has he's an Eco artist who has 30 years experience collaborating with groups all over the world including many here in Florida and and locally throughout our state um we are delighted to collab collaborate with him he has been so helpful in putting forth our vision as a Garden Club in a extremely artistic way and um he's here to present his vision to you and I hope you'll love it as much as we do thank you thank you madam president Mr C welcome to the city again thank you for being here with us thank you thanks a lot uh thank you mayor it was a pleasure I was here um about a year ago talking a little bit about heat and how we could work together in community to address our environmental concerns but importantly we're here to celebrate 100 Years of Civic engagement and when thinking about that when you give someone a birthday gift you think long and hard what should they get sometimes Oh but before anything thank you so much what a what a beautiful presentation uh earlier my heart is full just listening to the community um and and one of our uh you know most recognized artists be selected by you to create that public pieace just as a as a fly on the wall I just want to thank you for that but um in so far as this project is concerned when you think of a Birthday and I'll try to be quick cuz I know time is short what what would you give someone I don't know a bouquet of roses sounds like a good thing I give that to my mom all the time but what if those Roses weren't cut what if those flowers were Forever Living so that's what I was thinking about when I was thinking of this piece like how do you thank someone for 100 Years of bringing Beauty and nature and helping Define the fabric of a community you give them flowers but not just flowers but flowers that encourage others to grow flowers and not just flowers that are grown but flowers that are important for the interconnectedness of things for us to understand how we as people are interconnected but we're also connected with nature and with ecosystems and that in many ways is I think the Beauty and the mission and the role of the Coral Gables Garden Club they teach us to care for our environment for our Gardens for the beauty of our city but also for each other and for nature and um those individuals have done incredible work for 100 years and I wanted to join them in celebrating so that we can continue doing that for the next 100 years so I created this art piece with a lot of input uh how long have we been at this we've been at this for a while um so here we go so I'm an artist as I think you um you've heard I've been involved in a lot of public art commissions so I want to give you the confidence that I kind of know what I'm doing I I will do it on time and it's on their dimes so you don't even have to worry about budgets um and um and I'm honored to bring this to you I've created art all over our community uh across more than 10 public housing sites my art hadn't set the entrance of County Hall and various City Halls including Miami and Pine Crest um I've created art literally in every continent and at the North and South Pole so it's a it's a big honor for me because although my art is all over the University of Miami it's not in your city as a public art piece part of your public art program so this hopefully will be the first time we do that so what's a design remember I wanted to create flowers but not just flowers as Beauty but flowers is process prow his education and the name of this piece is called planting pollinators the idea is if you plant a wildflower Garden you're actually planting butterflies because those butterflies will come into that community so I decided to make the petals of the flowers out of the very pollinators that pollinate those flowers and create new plants and new flowers so one of the flowers in the piece will be made out of butterfly wings another one made out of beetles another one made out of hummingbirds another one made out of bees the idea is that all of these will come together they'll look like flowers but if you look closely as I hope the kids and families do when they come upon the sculpture you'll understand that by planting them you're also helping nature it'll be a colorful uh uh piece you may know my palette but it's pretty bold and colorful and tropical you may say um so the piece is going to stand as an orb referencing the interconnectedness of things it's organic and it's going to be peppered by all these handmade flowers every square inch of that orb will be made with my hands and paint it and glazed um in those colors to get a sense of what the texture will look like like there is a piece I just did for Jacksonville Beach um and if you look closely at the oval it's a detail of what the um the the wings of those butterflies will look like a very textured piece that's this is sort of my my gestal way of creating so the proposal is to create this piece it's going to be a 4T diameter piece poured concrete and clad completely with um Ceramics handmade Ceramics and at the bottom of it it's going to have a small QR code and that QR code is going to be an invitation for people to look at the Garden around that sculpture The Butterfly Garden at the library and try to emulate that you see a coreopsis you like you see a fire bush you like try to plant one of those at home so that the same butterflies you're seeing here could be in your yard so that QR code will do that I I have a foundation I spoke with my executive director last time I was here so our foundation will partner with the Garden Club and their coloring book and all the work that they're doing to promote the idea of more Gardens at home so that we can help mobilize and activate people so that they too understand that they have a role in protecting our environment so this is um the gift that the birthday party is giving you for their birthday and I am so honored uh to be a part of it if you have any questions or comments comments I'm sure uh the board members or I will be happy to to take them but thank you very much thank you sir beautiful beautiful work I think it's going to there's going to be a great interplay between obviously our lushness and the beauty of the city and your incredible sculpture and I think it was about time that we had one of your works here in the city I know anywhere you go it's if it's a municipality or or you know a project somewhere throughout Miami day County that I've been able to I've seen your work and it's amazing I also like the fact that has a ra texture to it I think it's I think it's going to be something that the kids will get to enjoy and there can be a lot of Inplay with it it's not something that you can't walk up to and you know really touch it so I'm really happy with that you can touch this piece it's all good that's why I've seen it before I've seen the works that you have before and you know the kids the kids really get into it you know as as when you talk about art there's always that that statement of you know don't get don't touch it don't get too close don't do this you know having the ability to to be able to have the children come up and come up and close and and uh take a look at it is something that uh that it opens people's eyes and their interest and their appeal to Art and you know you have some future artists as a result of your work I hope so I hope so and hopefully their fingernails will be full of dirt too I want them to plant not just to plant you know another thing that's important too is um the idea of Ceramics Ceramics is a lost art yeah um I have some works right now that I lent uh to FIU there's a beautiful show at FIU it's based on women Cuban ceramicus and that oh my God what an incredible show at the Frost Art Museum so I L I have a few Works in that show thank you that was a moving show I'm so from different artists but you know that's a work that the Goa the Goa family have been working on for some time and they went out and got different different collectors in town to donate and it's only based on women ceramicist you never get to see so seeing you work in in Ceramics it's a lost art not many people are are doing are doing Ceramics it's complex it's tedious it's hard work it's costly you need a lot of space so I uh I commend you for the undertaking it's exceptional thank you for noticing that and thank you for that donation I I encourage everyone to go to love to say the donation it's on loan I'm bringing I'm bring I'm bringing the stuff back sorry no you did say you did say loan I'm sorry I'm bringing back to uh but what a wonderful what a wonderful exhibit and by the way I love this city I have long long roots all my life with the city uh even lived in it for a while worked in it for a while so it's it's a big it's a big honor for me to to have the pce here so um mayor if I may I this is another example of artwork that does something so great for the community because we're bringing people together we're bringing people Joy um as a member of the Garden Club and I'm on one of the boards I'm on the environmental board I know you went through a lot of U I'd say Fierce commentary on some of the first proposals and uh with the input from the cultural arts board I got to tell you that it's it's really been a beautiful experience to see the transformation of you know the first iteration of what you were doing and what we have now uh it's both educational and it brings people Joy um nothing could make uh me happier to see pieces of artwork like this coming into our community that serves a wonderful purpose and it's not going to be lifted up and taken away very easily being a 4 foot wide piece of concrete it's a pretty durable piece um thank you vice mayor thank you uh you have been an inspiration for this piece you and I have planted mangroves and wild flower gardens together with my students at the University of Miami and lots of dirt under the nails so so thank you very much for your leadership um not just civically but uh with your fingernails full of dirt as well so thank you so much for all your work and your environmental leadership um as a husband of a Garden Club member I have throw that in for my wife where to go um one thing I love about it besides as was mentioned it it's joyful but uh my wife and I like a lot of families when our kids were young we would go to the butterfly garden because we found peace and joy and sort of once you go in there's like I think the movie The Secret Garden you escape the hustle and bustle of the world it's like a little Sanctuary but with your peace um I think it's going to attract people that have never been there before I think once they're there they'll come back again and again because nowadays it's so difficult to find a place of peace and Tranquility so not only be a way to help people cope and Escape but bring families together but it's also a way to have young people learn about what nature brings and what nature offers too many times they're on the technology and they lose sight or lose contact with the world that we have around us so your piece I think is going to do that in much more thank you so much I I I hear you about sanctuary and each of us in our homes have sanctuaries right so I hope I hope that this piece does become a placemaker but that they just not look at the art it's it's made with the scale so you can also enjoy all the things flying around that art piece thank you and Mr G I'm also a board me a member of the Garden Club and I've also seen the joy that this art piece has brought to the members of The Garden Club throughout this process um it's an honor to have you here in the city and and bring this art piece uh to our library uh I think it's an area that needs some art and needs some enhancement uh and like commissioner Menendez and and the vice mayor were saying bringing the children out to to see this art piece and like you said getting them to get their their fingers dirty because this will promote you know hey I want to see those those bugs like they would call it in my garden okay well let's plant these plants and we'll be able to get them um so I'm glad that you're incorporating that QR code as well because that will help with them incorporate that that technology that they're so fixed in nowadays I have an 8-year-old and hard to get him off his phone but he sees a QR code he wants to scan it to see what it is so I think that'll help uh promote gardening in in the youth in our community um and I want to thank the members of The Garden Club who are here today and the hard work that you have all put in uh to get us to where we are today and to donate this to the City of Coral Gables uh so that gardening and uh our pollinators are something that's visible in our city for years to come yeah thank you and and just so you know the the library has interest in in doing this so you look at it you look at your butterflies you scan the CCO but then there's an entire Library there that can further educate you so the goal is to Peak curiosity right to Peak curiosity so you can go on this beautiful Journey as an environmental Steward I understand we still need to get approval from the from the county right yes we still need formal approval from the county beautiful thank you so much it's my pleasure thank you so much thank you sir Mr clerk do we have any public comment all right I'll entertain a motion I'll move it I'll second may I before we take the vote just clarify one point we'd like to expand the resolution just to include authorizing any necessary agreements with the Artist as well as drafted it just refers to anou with the Garden Club but we just want to make sure we expand it to the artist yeah accepted an amendment by the City attorney here commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Menendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro thank you again to the Garden clubs this is a very gracious donation and yes mayor logo yes thank you very much uh moving on to item G3 G3 is a resolution of the city commission approving the concept and commissioning of a work of public art by Alberto Cavalieri in conjunction with the JQ group development project at 719 bill moreway in fulfillment of the art and public places requirement for public art and private development hello if you can bring up your presentation for G3 please all right if cable TV could put up my screen we'll get there there we go that's fine so as the City attorney mentioned this is a request for a waiver according to section 9-103 of the city code 719 built more way is a project of JQ group and has chosen the option of petitioning for a waiver of the art and public places fee requirement by commissioning and installing artwork okay thank you the artwork has an appraised value equal to or greater than the amount of the art in public places fee and is otherwise required as specified in the zoning code article 9 section 9- 103b the de developer is here today proposing the commissioning and installing of artwork by the artist Alberto cavalary the Arts advisory panel and cultural development board voted to recommend the proposed artwork at their respective meetings on September 6th and dece and September 19th 2024 the developer is here today and we'll walk through the presentation about the artist and the proposed artwork good morning sir morning uh first of all thank for having us here he a honor for us to present I'm LU rzes on behalf of the developer JQ group we're here to get your approval on the waiver to provide this uh art uh in our future development and located in 78 in bmore way uh just to give you some background we um we used to have in that site a 12 units rental building and we purchased the the the uh the property about two years ago and we even though we have by right uh density to do 20 units we propos to do only nine units these are one unit per floor projects only a 12 story high building uh condo for sales and along the process we uh we decided to go ahead and apply for a waiver and we hire the artist Alberto Cavalieri to propose this artpiece that you see in the screens we went through the through the r advisory panel first with a total different uh sculture they had a lot of feedback to us and we went back to the drawing board and we modify it to to have what you see now in the screen that we receive an approval of seven votes um when we presented today in the second go around after that we went to the CRA development board but they also anonymously approved unanimously approve the the scure six vot to none and that we are here as a last step of the process to get your approval on this uh in this rpce in front of our property that we intend to build as soon as we able to pull the building I'm open for any questions suggestions that you may have would you mind tell us telling us a little bit about the artist background his background um is he any is he in any museums collections U just tell us a little bit about the artist sure uh the artist is called his name is Alberto Cavalieri he was already approved by the City previously for us to hire him he has done some arts in the throughout the city of Miami and Miami day County he has some of the recent art that he provid was in the city of theal he did a a private collection in city of theal in front of a hotel over there and he has done quite a few uh exhibits at the city but nothing that is been built as a permanent art at the city yet um he he was born in Venezuela he has done quite a few uh art pieces throughout the war in especially in Venezuela some of them are are shown here in the in the screens he he intend to um his inspiration comes to show uh the metal pieces Twisted to show some uh flow flow on the With the Wind into the into the metal piece uh the one that he presented to us in our project is is just like that he uh he tried to provide movement through the steel components and that's what we have in our on our project um he um he intends to build this locally here in Miami and assembly the the the piece at the side the the sculture itself is about 15 feet tall 13 foot wide and it's a it's made of giz steel so it requires low maintenance and we um and it's a very long it will last it will last a long time just uh with low maintenance of the property okay so just for the clarification um this is part of the presentation as well we do like to review what that cost is so right now the cost of the proposed art piece and installation is estimated to be over $220,000 and the artwork and all expense related expenses will be the responsibility of the developer developer is also required to provide for the Perpetual maintenance of the artwork which will be memorialized in a covenant to run with the land and coordination of the maintenance as I so responsibility of the developer is not related to the art fund right okay any other questions ideas yes I had a question uh what Outreach was done to the local community that lives on builtmore way can you repeat the question commissioner story what Outreach was done to the local community that lives on builtmore way as a beside the rpes concerning the art pce yes oh the the feedback from the from the community we haven't heard any anything against it we went through these two previous commission at committee sorry the our advisory P development board and we didn't hear any any push back or any feedback from the from the neighborhood in any of those meetings so I'm going to repeat the question what Outreach was done to the community that is right there on buil moreway well we intend to we intend to provide uh a few things that comes to mind we have a in the backside we have overhead cables that we intend to add our own cost put them on the ground that will benefit the the the community in that area we also um we also intend to uh part of the design that we have is that we going to match what is a next adjacent building is called the jior league and their their design is being mimick into our project to continue the design that we have along bmer way okay I don't want to interrupt you yeah the vice mayor was saying did you speak to any of the did you speak to the Junior League did you show it to the residents next door the design did sign of the piece no we have met with them many times about the project itself but they sign piece no we have not okay so um if you B can you can you come up here thank you so throughout the process you know was there any engagement at all with residents or anything uh our staff would not do that have you heard from residents did they call you did they say anything no we have not heard anything from residents or anybody okay except so it went before the Arts board and received a 70 70 vote it it actually went to the Arts panel a couple of times uh so the Arts panel did provide some feedback on an initial um proposal from the artist and then the artist responded to that which was immediately embraced I mean Mr Gary could could speak to that um and then it moved forward to the cultural board which which had no misgivings about the piece okay right so I'm going to I'm going to give you some comments um okay one and it ties into with the prior two presentations about what art should do for the community and that is bring joy and bring the community together um this is a very special street that um and there's some very strong feelings in different directions about a medal piece of art work that exists on sovia and buil way um and I've received some comments back and not only on that piece but on this piece here that is uh very negative okay what they would like to see is something that brings the community together something that complement um the issues that exist on that street regarding heat for instance um things that come to mind to me that would address that would be uh a type of garden where you also have a water feature has a cooling and calming effect on it a commitment to plant trees on that street so that people uh feel like they can walk to the site and enjoy the experience that they can have there uh in a much different environment than currently exists in front of the building I appreciate you know the commitment of of the um developer to be maintaining the piece because it is indeed on on your property and it would become a very important selling point for your property but I think something along the line that would benefit the community uh would be something that would be designed to complement uh the existing problems that exist on the street and and benefit everybody they'd want to go there they'd want to go to the Garden they would want to go there and hear the water trickling in in a design type uh fountain that complements the building so those are my comments on this piece uh I agree with the vice mayor um just seeing the diagram I'm concerned with the lack of green space that you have on the property to begin with uh this is an area that has been struggling with green space and tree canopy um and it seems like most of it is going to be paved uh I saw that you're actually putting green space on our sidewalk which I don't even think that's that's an option um but I have heard from the residents as well and their concern on this art piece and if we go back I guess six or seven years um the flower feature was placed there on on sovia without resident input and it was probably one of the most controversial art pieces in South Florida uh still today I have people asking me to remove it um so I'm not comfortable moving this forward I would like for there to at least be Community meetings uh to get the input from the the the Neighbors on what art piece is going to go there nothing against the art uh artist or the or the artw work think it's an incredible art piece I just don't know that this is the location for it but I would like to see resident input on this piece and I agree with the vice mayor something that can complement add to the the softening of of of this area add to the green space in this area uh is really more in tune with what we need um than an art piece that really doesn't tie into the community no pun intended since it is a not um but I'm not sure that I'm ready today to say this is an artpiece that works here um without input from the residents in that area every other artpiece that you've seen come up here today has been coming to us with numerous meetings I mean the one with the l l be Walker Foundation the artists and staff were out there the day that I was there walking in the rain going door too to talk to the residents about what was actually going to be coming and that was just one of the meetings that they had they had numerous meetings with the Garden Club that has gone through many different iterations and input from from members of the community as to what's coming um so the fact that this is coming before us today and basically know there hasn't been any input just because of our community meeting our our city meetings I don't think that that gives us an idea of where the residents in that area stand and I don't know if going forward U Madam City attorney we can request or require that artwork similar to this one has to go to a community meeting before it comes to to commission or before it goes to the boards we can research that and we can see if if you know if we put staff and see if that's something that could be incorporated maybe we can put that on the second September agenda since we've put a few things on the first sure we how about we meet with you in advance and we flesh everything out and discuss it because there is a distinction because this is on private property versus the ones that are on um city property but it still requires a commission approval and the input of the community I think is important to all us up here yeah so I'm going to suggest too that you know while we're having these meetings at the cultural art board and stuff that within the radius of where the artwork is going to be that the community be notified of it so the input can be done at an earlier stage because I can I can tell you firmly that something of this nature it's metal it's a hot location you know there's many research studies that show that the effects of water flowing actually cools the environment we can put that together with a very tasteful um piece that complements the building as well as the community and people want to gather there to be able to enjoy it to be able to stop and sip you know a cold drink uh under the shade of some trees you know and that's that's one aspect I want to see you know the other pieces that you had here they had the site location they showed you know we have a royal poncian Tre where um the the first piece is going to be and it's a gathering area the second piece as well you see that you know you have the art piece together with the garden itself so there's an interaction between the environment and the art piece too so I'd like to see what we can do in a way of notice Provisions for these surrounding Community because uh we don't want to be choosing art from here placing it in a community and then people say oh my God I can't believe you chose that and another point to what you were saying this is a very reflective material so when the Sun starts shining that could be reflecting into somebody's apartment at some time during the day exactly U because of the angle that the the art piece has um do we have any requirement right now for notice on Art uh before it comes before one of our panels there's not a requirement however if there is proposed artwork in a residential Community that's something that we would certainly do if it's in a commercial not necessarily but for uh residential communities yes uh again as the City attorney had mentioned since it is a private development initiative um being brought forward by them to have artwork on their private property uh we don't get involved in that type of Outreach so I'm happy to uh continue that conversation I want to add um and this isn't about that piece it's just lately there's a trend to decisions that the commission make is going to be community-driven with regards to art as opposed to maybe some years ago that was commission driven and um I think it's important to well you mentioned something about commercial and residential our downtown our Central business district nowadays the way it's evolving it's mixed use you have commercial and residential so I don't think we can specifically delineate this is a residential commercial because was built more way all the way into our the core of downtown we have Office Buildings but we have residential so I I'd like to see this notice apply um not say yes to residential not commercial because people are living that's what we want people to come to Down town so I want to make sure that we cover everybody as we move forward as my colleagues have suggested okay I I really really do like this art piece I just think it's the wrong location and that's no that's fine Len point take I just have a couple of comments if my if may I may address uh the design that we have at the very beginning have no art whatsoever it had only two plazas okay east and west and they have both have water fountain on it and I think that I think that goes along with what what you're suggesting as a welcoming area with with seting benches and so forth we could go back to that version of the drawings and and present that to you and and perhaps the RB deleting all together or just minimize it to a smaller size scale to combine combine both options perhaps you can always you can always just write a check to the r fund which makes it a lot easier in the process and that's how you can move forward and and and the other thing that I wanted to address is uh we have by code we have 10 foot setback on Wilmer we provided 20 that 20 food provides more area of Green Space to allow those kind of ideas to take place that's one of the thing that we already took it from the very beginning to have more separation from the street to to the face of the building yeah I know it's obvious that you weren't putting grass on the sidewalk so yeah but again to me let's defer the item there's obviously not support for this year today okay and you can come back you come back you know this will not hinder you moving forward with your project well I I on that point I want to ask you a request if I may uh this is right now one of the last item is holding us from being able to pull a building permit can this be a request to be a TCO uh provision instead of a building permit or I don't have an issue with that we've done that before okay we've done that before um and again if if you think it's too much of a cumbersome process at the end of day just speak with staff and Katherine can lead you in the direction of just you know writing with a lot of a lot of people who come to this community to build you know they've written a check they've written they've written a check um you know just make it makes it easier through the process you can just get it to the AR fund and that can be used for a lot of different things here that's fine so the art and public places ordinance requires that the the artwork either the waiver be granted or that the um the fee be paid prior to the issuance of the building permit what we've done in other cases has been there's been payment into an escrow which I know staff does not favor does not prefer to have to manage that um but right some something else would have to be done I just think that there's two options here for you you can either continue through the process or you can just write a check and be done with it and you can move on okay you know let me let me think about it in house and think about how think about how you'd like to attack it okay right thank you very much for your time share Mr Mayor before we move forward we have members of the public requesting to speak on that item okay Mrs Murray Cruz it is obviously a good day in Coral gaes uh Maria Cruz Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road it is a good day when I agree with the conversation um somebody stole my thunder I was going to remind people the flowers no need to do that but I found uh September 26 2023 agenda item G1 I have to give credit to the mayor because that day he said in moving forward this is a project with the lights I don't know if you remember he said in moving forward I think was in the best interest of a developer the residence Commission the city is that you sit down with the city manager and our staff and have a conversation moving forward on how you can get input from the community and address this again I'm going to defer the item I think is the best move moving forward and over the next few weeks you can have a conversation with staff and see how we can either move forward address some of the concerns meet with the residents and see how we can find find some some sort of common ground because I think that right now there's no support to move forward in regards to the artw work well said Mr Mayor that was very good Mr clerk Sonia Berle good morning by one minute good afternoon I think no one minute we got one minute two minutes ding dong yes um Sonia viral 730 Anastasia Avenue um I came for one thing and i' see that it's leading from one thing to another I'm I'm I'm very glad to be here and I'm glad to hear that you're talking about art in public places um living on Anastasia my way out into the city is sovia and I have been looking at those flowers please somebody remind me what year was it put up I don't know was it was prior to any of you I think sitting here in front of us corre right I don't know Mrs Anderson maybe you would recall I don't know what year it was uh definitely before I decided to run yes exactly any of you however having said that uh Mr Fernandez you said that people have approached you about those flowers I really initially I believed it was a a an a sculpture in motion I thought there was going to be water or something that's what I said said well it's it's not too bad of an idea water and flowers you know instead of having live flowers uh now that I've been looking at it for so many years for me you can bulldo it today before tomorrow you can bulldoze it and put a beautiful Christmas tree there for all I'm concerned uh it is horrible it does not look anything like Coral Gables I think the Garden Club would have done a much better job than that and not spent I think it was over a million dollars back then so I'm it does not represent the city and please please put something in motion to remove it and put something much better looking than that even if it's palm trees or plants will do a better job than that thank you so to that point um I have discussed with the city attorney and with staff the potential of removing uh the sovia um flower uh feature unfortunately the contract that was worked out with the artist removes the city's ability to do much and puts all the power in the artist's hand it was a really bad contract we've had a history of bad contracts in the city add that one to the list um you know I've talked to staff about potential of selling it we don't have an option of selling the art piece so um we I've explored it I'm not done with it but uh as a right now there really isn't a way to get out of of moving that art piece and until when is the city bound with the artist we're still looking into that yes we're still looking into by the way it doesn't mean our Landscaping Department one day can just take care of it you know I'll look the other way or the or the wind blew it wait if you have a weed whacker go for it yeah the wind the wind blew it the wind it the wind blew it something you know like we've had we've had people who bought properties and you know uh the some trees have blown away without any permission and the other circle of course is corway and sovia yes the other yeah thank you thank you everyone Mr clerk that's it Mr Mayor all right perfect so we can um we've deferred the item um we'll see what happens moving forward the annexation people are here and they're really really anxious I understand that we we'll handle we'll handle we'll handle one last item that's that's time certain and then we should be very quick and then we'll move on to the annexation item so moving on to item G4 which is time stting for 12:00 G4 is a resolution of the city commission honoring artist Janine Antony and approving an application to Art basil for an official event further approving funding up to $20,000 from the art fund toward program and marketing materials and authorizing an amendment to the fiscal year 2324 operating budget to recognize a transfer of funds from the art and public places reserve and to appropriate such funds to put towards the cost of the project how are you good to see you good afternoon Catherine cathers arts and culture specialist the cultural development board is making a recommendation to the city commission to honor Janine Anthony for the city's annual application to Art basil through an official event on January 24th 2023 the City Commissioner approved the commission and installation of the sculpture Whispering through a stone by Janine Anthony who is a celebrated artist of world renown and meets the qualifications for recognition consideration by Art bosle the installation site is currently being prepared for the sculpture which is expected to be complete in time for my art week and art bosle Miami Beach on August 2024 the cultural development board discussed options for the city's annual art basa 2024 event application and made a motion unanimously recommending recognition of Janine Antony through her her appearance at a debut presentation of a documentary featuring work related to the city's new sculptural acquisition the cor art s has been approached as a host site and would work with us on presenting this event and a future event with with the artist building on the established relationship with art bosel the city proposes to submit an art bosel VIP event application to celebrate her and her work funding of $20,000 for this recommendation related expenses and marketing is proposed through the art fund uh which is of course funded through private development projects I just want to add that the the city just a little historical context here the city uh reached out to arzo Miami Beach many many many many many years and times and was not afforded um the recognition to do an event here in the city um until 2016 and that was the first year so we've been doing um it's an application process to do this um and it is with we do get to say that it is an official art basle uh recognized event uh we do need to do it outside of art basa hours so we have the time of 8:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning at the end of art Baza as people are making their way out of the city it tends to draw people from around the world and from prominent uh Galleries and collectors who may otherwise not be here in Coral GBL so it's been a really wonderful event for us to promote the city in a different way um and to a different audience and we are hoping to continue that relationship with art bosil and the City okay thank you I entertain a motion or any further comment if we have anything I think it's a wonderful opportunity I'll move it how many people came out to the event last year or this year I guess it depends it has ranged anywhere from about 30 to 70 I would say so um and it also this is a time of year that part of this funding is used actually probably a majority of the funding is used for annual promotion of the city through our public art program in Publications so that includes um ads in the art newspaper which is a publication that's distributed at Art basa Miami beach every day of the event so again it's really reaching out to a different audience and how would we go about trying to request a different time slot we have spoken with them numerous times about that and um um I'm sure the mayor could probably speak to this as well uh there are very few there's a lot of competition of course with other times and once people are on Miami Beach it's very difficult to get them off so we have found that we've kind of embraced the time and now we have kind of regulars um that are regulars to Miami and art basil that you know they know that we do this event on Sunday morning and they participate and um it also aligns with the other art basle events that are happening outside of Miami Beach and in this area kind of west southwest of of the beach so it's the same it's right before FIU does their annual brunch uh the Coral Gables Museum and the low Art Museum so one of the things that we offer is a trolley is trolley service between our event and um's uh the low Art Museum okay anything else I'll entertain a motion it's done we have a motion Mr Mayor uh I do also have a member of the public requesting to speak on the item perfect Miss Maria Cruz Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road when I read this he brought bad memories because we did get we did get involved with our Bassel before and we're still paying for that involvement because we still have the beautiful sidewalk that's very close to this building that we have to pay the artist to uh repaint it sometime ago I suggested one of my granddaughters could come with uh chalk and and whatever and do it again but we cannot do that I'm having trouble and I don't even know the artist I have nothing against the artist nothing about except that $20,000 to have 30 to 70 people coming that says that in this city with all the art pieces that we have we cannot put some kind of a catalog or something to invite people to come see the wonderful things that we have in this city have to pay $20,000 for one event for what a short time at An Inconvenient time just to you know we we have things that we can showcase and for $20,000 we could have something to give everybody that goes to our vasel a sample of how this city honors art I think this is a waste of money that's it Mr Mayor followup question Katherine um I participated in an event that was held by a nonprofit this year prior to Art bosle wasn't an official event they had over 200 250 people there at the event does making it an official art bosle event make it more successful if we're saying 35 to 70 people are coming versus doing it during art bosle and if people are staying at the builtmore for art bosle or at the Lowe's for art bosel they have a place to go here in the city uh in this for this particular event uh we are the the artist and and we agree are going to replicate it as well for something that is more open uh beyond the art bosle uh time period um it really is we would not get the recognition of our APLE it's just it's that simple we wouldn't have it right but I guess going back to the question you know we are spending $20,000 on this event for 35 to 70 people to show up yeah I understand we're trying to attract the art bosel crowd the question is can we use that money to attra attract the art bosle crowd even if we're not listed as one of the official events of art basle it would not be listed in Art Basel I agreed it will not but we can still have our own art event uh it's my opinion that we would not be attracting the same the same people and uh part of the um as as staff it's my opinion um and it has been the initiative of this commission through years to make sure that we are building a reputable public art collection it's a very diverse collection and it has a lot of access to a lot of people who have different tastes in in different types of art as you've seen today uh I think that's a strength of the program and part of that um trying to reach that height of in in some ways we sort of treat uh the the city as a as a um as a sculpture garden in some ways we have been dedicated to having our work that meets a certain level of of quality and access and I think along along with that having that recognition of our basil says so much for our community and C Gables it takes it you know we are taken more seriously in the in the art world and with different artists and the ability to access them um than we would otherwise and people want to do things here as well um so I think it's definitely worth it and as I said and and this is actually about about 15,000 less than we usually ask for and in the past we've also gotten grant funding from the state which of course is non-existent this year to help support uh this project as well and the majority of that funding is going for the marketing and advertisement so it's like the one time a year so you know realistically we could end up just doing a trolley tour of all of our art pieces in the City of Coral Gables and showcase all of the art that we we have in the city for probably a lot less I think we can do both if you think we can do both let's sit down and talk and let's figure out a way to do it cuz I think you know prior commissions have invested a lot of money on ensuring that we have high level art in our city a lot of people don't get to see it if we can do an event where residents can come out and go and see the different art pieces throughout the city I think that would be a win for us it also showcases all of the art that we have in the City of Coral Gables and we can probably try to get some media attention to that as well we've done a couple things um I've of course have led a couple of bike tours of the public art collection we've done some walking and Trolley Tours uh we did a couple trolley tours in the past year uh for the public art collection so um I think we can do it all and we're fortunate enough to to have the the resources to access to do it so mayor I'll just make brief comment I think this is one of the many pieces that we need to work on with our business community in order to promote the cultural arts all Arts the physical Arts performance arts you know we have a lot in this city to Showcase and it'll dovetail in with our strategic plan to be able to say come to Coral Gables you can come and enjoy it all here you have the physical art pieces you have the performing art pieces this can go up in the um the airport in conjunction with the airlines they don't need to go to New York and freeze in New York during the winter you can come down here and en enjoy uh Coral Gables and showcase everything that we have to offer yeah we do have the bike tours for those who like to get out and move their blood and and those who prefer the air conditioning and and the trolley we can do the trolley tours as well so I I think this is one very important piece that can work together cohesively with everything else that we're trying to do for the city's strategic plan is there any further comment from the commission uh Mr Mayor we have additional comment from a member of the public okay Mr Jackson Holmes I apologize for taking up your time I I know that in the past I have been against spending for art uh and yet here I am about to plug this particular item um as you may know I used to live in Switzerland so I I knew basil from when I was 15 years old or something and uh I lived on Miami Beach I think it could be said that the transformation of Winwood is really due to Art bosel which is a heck of a transformation right uh so I recommend that we spend the money because the claim to to fame uh in the art world for $20,000 I I think it's going to pay dividends thanks thank you sir Mr clerk that's it sir what is the will of the commission uh we have a motion we have a second we're ready to vote commissioner Menendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor logo yes moving on um to um to item thank you very much Kev moving on to item F4 F4 is a resolution of the city commission ending the annexation process for little Gables thank you Mr Mayor um so last Tuesday we had a straw ballot question uh regarding the annexation of little Gables um I think the result of that were pretty uh decisive the residents of our city are not interested in continuing to pursue the annexation of little Gables um so I asked the City attorney uh to work on a resolution today uh ending the process of annexation of little Gables uh today um so that we don't continue to spend taxpayer dollars on the annexation of little Gables um I've heard from many residents uh over the last uh few days uh grateful for the commission's interest in listening to the people uh and um taking their decision this election seriously um I've heard from others who still think that the the uh the item should be discussed uh and still considered uh however in my opinion I think the will of the voters of Coral Gables who would be footing the bill for annexation of little Gables was pretty clear uh and that's why I move uh to uh accept this resolution so mayor if he may um I concur the uh the voters have spoken uh at this time uh the will of the and the cost of the project uh do not warrant moving forward um that may change in many years forward uh but at this time I I would concur and uh move the item I'll second you second I moved it you okay okay I'll second you second I'll let you move it you know I was be I was giving some thought you know after seeing the results and um I know there there's arguments on both side um but you know in the corporate world when there's a merger the shareholders on both sides have to vote to approve the merger uh when there's a wedding both sides have to say I do and the way I look at it right now the coral gaples residents said not yet so I'm in agreement with uh commissioner Fernandez and vice mayor Anderson um on the direction we need to take yeah I I was in the position that I didn't think this is the correct timing to do this we weren't it wasn't fiscally smart at this moment to do this and um I always said let the people vote and they did vote and this is what they want and be more than happy to not move or second but go ahead and vote so I I disagree I think that I think annexation is a great opportunity for for the city I think that like I've spoken to many residents who are in favor some who are against and some who are in the middle I think we're I think the key is who's in the middle and when you look at the opportunity here you have a a ballot that received 19% of the individuals came out to vote and when you look at the breakdown after almost a year of not talking about annexation outside of our conversations here in here in the commission Chambers we had no out no output we had no Outreach we didn't put anything via email we didn't put anything via newsletter we didn't put anything telling people Tomorrow there's there there's a opportunity to understand a little bit more at this Workshop in regards to annexation and to still Garner almost 40% to me is a pretty significant amount um I think there's and I'll tell you why I think it's important for annexation to always be an opportunity in the city especially when we talk about little Gables you're talking about s sp102 which is an issue that we're going to have to deal with here in Miami day County um and you're going to see that discussed today at 4:30 in regards to a project that you know again we have to make very tough decisions here and SP sp102 handcuffs the city in regards to what what we can do and I foresee little Gables being used as an SP 102 conversation it's a fact we're going to see that conversation today on another project that's being uh brought forth and proferred here in the commission 27 I got 19 I was wrong 27% of the individuals that came out to vote thank you for the clarity I appreciate that you I asked Clerk and you have the wrong number but thank you for that um I think when you think about the opportunity to come out and and support something as beneficial there's every investment takes time nothing nothing is done overnight and you have to invest to be able to reap the Ws and I think that when you talk about squaring off our borders I think that annexation wholeheartedly I'm one of those individuals that believes it's the right thing to do and I understand that some people disagree and it's okay we can disagree on them the matter but I still have my belief that I think it's an important opportunity for the city and I'm happy we went through the exercise at the end of the day but in the future I would support adding station thank you mayor I have great concerns about s sp102 and hopefully in the future um the residents of cor Gables would uh understand the potential impact that can happen with s sp102 in the trailer park and uh the surrounding community and the value of the homes in Coral Gables that are in those neighborhoods the traffic impact as well so um it's a big concern uh we can study it more and we'll see what can happen in the future so it benefits both um both the residents of the cor Gables as well as the residents of little Gables and I think for the residents who are listening and or watching s sp102 is the state's um live local act which removes the power of municipalities of enforcing their zoning code uh developers could decide to purchase the property if they have they meet certain requirements they're able to build as tall as the uh tallest building within a mile of their property uh within the jurisdiction so long as 40% of the uh building offers uh Workforce housing uh and the parameters of Workforce housing aren't as stringent as you think they would be um but the current proposal at the Sears location right off of Miracle Mile is one of those projects that we'll be seeing just outside of our border but will be impacting the City of Coral Gables going forward that's why for the last couple of years we've tried to let the residents know that a lot of the focuses on decisions we make here inside Coral Gable City Hall decisions that are made at the county level but the biggest threat to our city beautiful comes from Tallahassee because when investors uh get frustrated with their own rules and regulations they now realize they have a shortcut to bypass and they go to Tallahassee and they get support from the legislators there they pass the laws in Tallahassee that impact us and then our hands are tied but not only are our hands tied as elected officials the residents hands are tied as well that at that point no matter how much we are upset yell write emails um Tallahassee has basically imposed its will on us and our residents if I may add something else to that I think it's also important that people understand it's not only the impact in regards to to the magnitude of the development so the key is when I mentioned and this is why it's to me it's incredibly important when you talk about annexation that you apply the fact that if it if little Gables was part of our jurisdiction and again this is neither here nor there just putting it on the record so people understand why I'm passionate about the idea of the controlling of little Gables and that is if we're able to have little Gables as part of Gables we could be in a discussion like we're going to have this afternoon we're going to sit down and have a conversation here before the commission I'm happy it's happening the same day because you'll get to see a developer who's coming forward proffering a project and also talking about potentially doing sp102 which is an additional 50 ft in height and it's not only the 50 ft in height that we could lose out on it's also the fact that we lose impact fees the city would lose impact fees altogether so those impact fees are used to service our city and to address issues that we have here those impact fees would not be part of this community so there's multiple multiple issues that we'll be facing in the future and I just like we look at certain things and we make this decisions today and we say we vote one way or another these are things in the future you have to take a look at and say you know was it worth moving in this direction did we make a wrong decision do we make a right decision and again I've looked back on some of my votes and said I'm not happy with the way I voted on that I can give you a case in point the vice mayor's uh conversation in regards to to accepted sewer uh grants that we were accepting for for a portion of our city we should have taken that even if it was a huge impact to the community uh that's one of the ones that comes to mind that I'm that I wish I could take that vote back so when you talk about sp102 and you talk about little Gables it's not only just about the fact that you'll see this afternoon it's we need this project approved if not we'll just move down sp sp 102 but also the issue of the impact fees the city would receive no impact fees which would be we would have the impact of a massive project in our community but we wouldn't have any of the impact fees uh associated with that to set that to to offset that yes ma'am so in addition we also have the property tax revenues that are decreased under SP 102 it is this is a topic that didn't exist four years ago when I ran two years ago it didn't exist rtz didn't exist either all these things have come into play where the power of this commission is being Whitted away more and more and more so sometimes we have to strike a balance uh on what we do and it's not always dealing exactly with the issue that we're concerned with right here but you know if we want to maintain the values of our Coral Gables properties you know surrounding little Gables surrounding the central business district we have to try to do what's best for our community um and that's why I was in favor of of annexation because I felt as a whole it was the best thing for our community and we could work out the budget going forward you know it's not a down payment year one you know we can work in just like we do everything else um because the cost of planning trees is on one side of the Border or the other benefits everybody if you're not going into a blighted area in and out so it impacts values in Coral Gables to have a better Community uh next door it also makes it much easier to do traffic calming we don't have to have do the dance with the county on uh what essentially 16th Street uh much more difficult for us to get traffic calming done and reducing speed limits and so forth um on these bordering streets uh between Coral Gables and little Gables so for that that reason and the police safety issues I thought it was in the best interest of our community but to your point I think commissioner uh caber has been phenomenal in helping us bridge the gap with the county and a lot of the issues that we've been having on that border Street uh I think traffic comaling on that street was very quick uh and addressed the demand the need that the residents on Coral Gable side had as well as the uh the little Gable side uh so I think we need to be grateful to having him on the County Commission advocating on behalf of coral Gable's residents I know and he's he's done a good job but the number of votes it takes from from the uh constituents on that street is at a higher level than if it was all Coral Gables it it is in my opinion that whether we Annex or not yes live local is a concern but if a developer is with the idea that he wants to come and build live local because there's so many other benefits he's going to build it whether we Annex little Gables or not so I stand very firm with the decision we're going to make today and congratulations to both parties right right just study live loc a little more because where you grab the the zoning from in the surrounding area is impacted by which municipality it's in yeah I I've looked into it enough thank you though it's it's a one mile radius of the municipality or the understand okay well ready we have a motion we do yeah we do second okay I'm sorry who made the motion I did okay we have a second May Anderson seconded Mr Mayor I have members of the public request to speak perfect first Speaker Mrs Maria Cruz Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road I hate to cor you uh mayor you made it very clear I heard you I read what you wrote um there was a reach there was a reach how many texts did we get before during even the election day we were getting text to go out and vote Yes okay the Miami heral publish and upad the community newspapers published an up upad asking people to vote for it Outreach there was this was David versus Goliath the people that wanted it put out a big effort there was big money being spent there are people that have invested in that area that wanted their money back and guess what the little people that live in their small homes the little people that bought there because they did not want to be part of Coral Gables because they like to live the way they live one and I'm sorry we need to learn to listen our resident said no end of the story that's it listen to the people and to finish because you know I'm I'm becoming a researcher now once again September 26 2023 we were talking about annexation item F4 and Mrs Maria Cruz in this at this point was Miss I guess Maria Cruz by itself I said good afternoon I think there has come a time there has to come a time when we accept that we cannot get everything we want and based on what's going on with our city today based on the fact that we do not have money to do the things that our residents want why is this insistence in annexing anybody frankly they made a very clear they're not interested they're not interested why do we continue spending money Consultants meetings posters printing when we do not have the money for our residents the ones that pay our taxes I think this is very ill advice talking about being very financially I guess conservative we're not we're throwing money down the drain at a point where we do not have the money to throw out I think enough is enough call your losses while you're ahead and stop spending money because we do not have the money to spend according to all of you we have we do not have money for what we the residents want and we're spending money for what may or may not happen I think anybody who doesn't who lives in Coral GES or doesn't live in cores reads the papers listens to the radio is aware what's going on here why would anybody want to come and join now what we don't when we do not whether we're coming or going where we don't know what we're doing where we still do not have money to pave our streets where we do not have money to do things that our residents are clamoring for enough I know this is probably a legacy project for someone but you know what there are no Legacy projects in Gables if the residents do not want it stop spending our money and this was almost a year ago and we're here after we spent money after we did everything that we shouldn't have done and the answer is the residents don't want it Lyn blin good afternoon hello ly blin 4330 South West 15th Street and good afternoon yes afternoon I am here today with some of my wonderful and very patient neighbors and also to speak for hundreds of little Gable's residents who could not attend today and share our message we would like to acknowledge and thank commissioner Fernandez and all the Commissioners who made the correct decision to ask your taxpaying Coral Gable citizens if they want to Annex little Gables they overwhelmingly said no 62.5 n% of your residents said no thank you Coral Gables residents for your intelligent and thoughtful vote to not Annex little Gables please support re resolution F4 ending the annexation process for little Gables and please continue to listen to the resident that you serve and thank you all so very much thank you you next speaker is on Zoom Kayla riera gz good afternoon asking them to unmute try a different one all right can you hear me now yes thank you okay wonderful so um my my question for the commission is when this ballot item was put out it was put out as a non-binding straw ballot however um the what is being done today is treating the vote which was done without the residents being well educated by the Commission in terms of what the results would be for annexation or against the city's website had very little information I spoke with many North Gable's residents who didn't know what the impact of annexation would be for them personally and they couldn't find the information it's already been discussed that many of you are unsure what the final impact of s sp102 will be the Sears project is new it seems to me that it would make more sense rather than making a a final decision today to see what is going to happen with this year's project to really give some consideration and to allow the residence of Coral Gables to get a full um explanation of what adding little Gables to Coral Gables could mean in a very clear and well documented manner from the city itself and that has yet to be done the information that has been on the city's website was really more focused on the impact to little Gables not the impact to Coral Gables thank you thank you very much Luciana Gonzalez Miss Gonzalez welcome good afternoon can anyone everyone hear me yes ma'am good afternoon Luciana Gonzalez 4605 Southwest 12 Street little Gable's resident um I would like to Echo sca's comments just now I think she covered pretty much a lot of what I was going to say um I I just want to correct some things that were said through the public we are the little people too uh we are the the residents of little Gables and we're not developers and we don't have we're not investors and we don't we don't have vested interests in this neighborhood other than becoming a better community and being part of cor gaes was the answer to that a few years ago commissioner Rebecca Sosa voted um had another straw ballot just like this one was had and 68% of the voters agreed that it should be part of Coral Gable and I know that you represent um Coral Gable's residents but please keep in mind little Gable's residents continue not to have a voice um in this process um we are second class citizens because we're either seen as trailer park or we're seeing where we have to pay extra fee with um Coral Gables you know my kids go to Coral Gable's Prep Academy my kids go to cor Gable's Senior High School I live and work in Coral Gables is my bubble and and I forgive me for being so passionate but we work so hard to try to educate people in a very little budget uh unlike uh what was mentioned um um earlier today but we got our money together to try to do something that we think is part of a A Better Community um I think sometimes it takes political leadership to see what what the the future can be for a municipality this municipality is not here for five more years this municipality will be here forever and to continue the legacy of George Merrick who tried to buy little Gables many many many decades ago and thanks to one single person who refused to sell to George Merrick little gabl was never part of pro gaes it was always meant to be part of cor gaes and I think that political lead leadership takes a lot um and just in in the words of a neighbor he said imagine if the Louisiana Purchase didn't go through or you know everything that this country has done in a small CM here we are in the same position you political leaders are in a position to Envision the future of coral gaes to protect its residents to control development under s sp102 which is a very real thing and North Gable's residents should have a louder voice in this matter so straw vote but not really a straw vote now it was Dead on Arrival when all Associated costs were included um in this who in their right mind will ever vote Yes on a on a bid question that says all Associated costs so thank you very much and um I apologize for my um extra enthusiasm but I feel very um very passionate about this and and and please consider this in the future thank Youk you Mr clerk that's it Mr Mayor all right so we have a motion and a second on the on the floor vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Menendez yes mayor logo no moving on to item F5 thank you for everyone for being here and voicing your opinions F5 is a resolution of the city commission promoting fiscal resilience and directing the city manager to include in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2425 certain revisions from the budget estimate including allocating certain funding toward the assessment drawings and plans for structural repairs at City Hall so um mayor and Commissioners I brought this resolution with the following in mind after July 1st we had some additional revenues that were recognized in our city budget and those um funds by by and large were put into adding new positions in our city over and above the new positions that were already in the budget and discussed and thoroughly um analyzed in our prior budget as as well as the current budget I also shared with you a copy of a structural engineering report that came out on um July 31st uh I didn't get to see it until after the first week of or sometime in the first week of August and the thought process here is number one we should not be adding um permanent costs in our our budget on positions that or additional positions that we can as we have maintained our services as they are I carefully went through and discussed with each one of our uh various departments where there were needs I looked at the truck logs as well for um our garbage employees being mindful of the fact of the exposure to heat um and the periods of times that we've used temporary employees to to relieve U some of that stress on employees uh for instance you have truck logs where you start in the morning at 7:00 and they're done by you know 11: 12 1:00 um and the temporary employees relieve some of those those folks out there the sanitation workers that are running but I did include you know critical um positions that were over and above the uh July 1st uh you know prior to the July 1st estimate such as an individual to be the truck driver that where we do have a a shortage uh and service available there we have some critical needs to take care of on CR on uh City Hall the uh Structural Engineering report um outlined some of those critical needs our historic buildings have been uh needing these repairs for a long time um monies were not in the budget to allow for many of the repairs that were needed uh to do the extensive repairs that this commission has been able to do uh thankfully due to the sale of some tdrs we were able to allocate money to the museum we're able to allocate significant Monies to actor's Playhouse uh to the water tower to the gondola building and all these types of structures and put some additional money into City Hall but that's not sufficient to take care of the type of structural work that we need to do on this building the most recent uh report indicates that the second floor concrete beams and slabs and spaces are experiencing spalling uh we're going to need Shoring poles in there for the next year um this is immediate action that must be taken by our commission in order to preserve our our Gem of our city our city hall the historic building that George Merrick had brought for us and needs attention you know because concrete the way it was mixed back in 1920s is not the way concrete is mixed now you had batches in the water that was used Etc uh we need to take care of this Grand Dame of our s the degree it states in here due to the degree of deterioration in two spans of the perimeter beam which supports the radial beams provide that we need the temporary Shoring to the exterior ends of two radial beams indicated in the attached sketch which are ironically right above this this room actually under us under under under this room okay so we could go down to the the the first floor so I'm glad you you went through the report um there are sacrifices that will need to be made elsewhere in our budget in order to be uh able to afford to uh hire the right architect and this is just not to the lowest bidder this is more like what we did with the F Studio it has to be somebody that is specialized in dealing with historic buildings and the restoration work and the engineering drawings that need to be done and this proposal is is to take the 835,000 $7 uh that will be saved um by not adding additional um you know hiring on our budget other than the additional positions that we've already done and put it back into City Hall So to avoid some of the statements that I've heard before that we're cutting we're not cutting no existing position of employees will be cut we're indeed adding positions so uh in section two of the resolution it indicates that we're adding the uh full-time Police cic monitor and adding the the part-time position and I've had a discussion with police chief regarding that sitting in front of a monitor for eight hours is a is not something that most people can do with the attention span necessary so the compromise is being made to have a part-timer in there along with a full-time position for the cic monitor position and um the second item is on Code Enforcement the funding shall remain for an additional position being added additional headcount being added to our budget for a new code enforcement field supervisor because we only have one right now and we have the nights and weekends to cover uh that was the critical need that we needed let's see how we do for this coming year with that additional added position and we can make future decisions going forward the sign shop I know it's really nice to have uh an additional employee there we've managed with what we've had before um the building here is more important um adding full-time employees or part-time employees is more than just the cost of the employee we're not going to be able to use those employees to shore up this building we have to do that with the proper engineering and Architectural work um we're you know leaving the position you adding a position in for solid waste worker operator too that's the person that drives the garbage trucks that's a a managerial type position as well so um those Solid Waste workers that drive those trucks typically are working their holidays they're typically working vacation time and that's why felt that that was more of a critical need um the temporary workers can fill in because it's less of a skilled area where you have to have the particular um a CDL license I think that's that's required to drive uh the garbage trucks and that's where we need to to put the money on a position and on parking enforcement you know we've been working with the parttime positions I've talked to staff about what advertising has been done to fill those part-time positions because I know that when I was going to college a job like this would have been fantastic because I could still maintain my studies it's a part-time position and I could roll it on through I think we can survive with what we have and do a better job of recruitment just like we needed to do in other uh areas in our city and no changes are being made for the 15 no new full-time positions or other positions in the draft budget those will remain uh there's other sacrifices that uh will be made as well including uh instead of putting $300,000 in downtown holiday decorations uh it'll be 100,000 the bid used to pay for this and this proposal um basically reaches out to the businesses and say basically put some skin in the game yeah if you want to have you know draw more people to your street the city's investing $100,000 if you want something more enhanced please contribute to it and be part of the discussion on what typee of decorations would you like to see do you would you like to see more color would you like to see some snowflakes what what is it that you would like to see that would attract people to your business and make our our city look grand um the the sacrifices on holiday direct decorations also go let's continue with the same um you know decorations in the Holiday Park um I know that we can make those work for another year we can repair them and utilize them instead of uh spending additional money on that as much as I'd like to see a laser show that would not uh pollute the environment and make noise for folks uh we can hold on off on that for at least another year on that $65,000 and and the folks in the community that would like to contribute some money towards that can do that as well uh if they would like to sponsor for instance a laser show and it goes on for you know the Janitorial service yes we're going to increase it but not quite as much let's see how we do with um you know $50,000 as opposed to uh $94,000 so the manor event um would not be enhanced we would continue to do in a monora event but we also can you know have sponsorships that can have that uh occur so I ask that you all support this let's take this the condition of this building seriously let's have our historic resour uh Department research and get back to us on recommendations on um the best architect and the best engineer to preserve this building just like they did with the Fink building it turned out fabulous uh does staff have anything to add to this uh vice mayor uh although we would prefer a full funding of all the requests we had uh these cuts and these addition are going to continue to help us at least maintain if not in some areas improve services to the community um so I I think it was uh wellth out uh process of knowing which positions we should keep versus the ones that we could right now afford to uh not fill so as you said these are you know head count will be added to our headcount uh but again if it was up to me i' ask for everything but I do appreciate the fact that at least some of the critical positions that we needed are there no I I I appreciate um your input on that um and moving forward I'd like to see us do the right thing by way of this building and um you know if I had uh a checkbook book that was Unlimited I absolutely would concur with you about adding dep positions but it's not an unlimited checkbook there is I have to agree with you that there is a critical need for City Hall um 100% agree however what well first thank you for for drafting up this resolution I know it probably took a lot of your time and and I really appreciate it but from my town hall and all the research that I did do I understand how these positions are critical to the Departments you even after I saw this resolution I did meet with some department heads and they were very there were very big concerns so as far as City Hall I would love to find a resolution to where we could take this money out from or probably talk to finance um Diana or Paula there has to be another solution this seems to me it's like an emergency based um condition and um I'm sorry but I won't be able to support this after all the conversations I've had with staff so may I ask you a question absolutely if the additional $8 to $900,000 did not show up in the budget on July 1st what would have you done to add those positions I believe that Paula had answered that question in my town hall and um the way that we work the budget is not these are the positions that we need but we work back W correct me if I'm wrong so I'm going to I would there the presentation dealt with a 2% cut and a 3% cut this is far below that this is not even a 1% cut and this is not a cut at all this is applying additional monies into capital projects a one-time expenditure not an expenditure that's going to be repetitive year after year after year after year so the most critical needs were taken care of first in order to be able to take the next step on this building the first step must be that you have the engineering and Architectural plans when that comes back to us we will have a price tag and then we can take a vote on where that money comes from whether we have to draw a bond whether we can do the next step we can't even begin that discussion and there's no point in taking a bond when you don't even have shovel ready drawings ready to go would have to go through a bid process you know this is this is a journey that we have to take together the employees the employees that work in this building the employees that want want to work here in the future and have the Safety and Security of knowing that this city will have the budgetary capacity to retain them as employees in the future so that if we uh go through and I think that the uh millage rate reduction was an eyeopener that if you go through a 1% reduction how many employees were being impacted if you go through a 2% reduction how many employees would be impacted if you go through a 3% reduction so you know markets fluctuate so we have to be mindful that we stress test this budget all the time and instead of putting money into recurring expenditures have the ability to give our our employees Peace of Mind knowing that our budget will be able to handle it in the future and they're not going to be seeing p pink slips instead of paychecks so taking care of this building is a critical need you know we've we've drugg it out as far as we possibly can it's time to take care of it and not wait for a a more critical problem where we're going to end up spending a lot more money because we wanted to spend more money on putting so many head the increasing the headcount higher than it's ever have been in this city in the historic past beyond what the capacity of the budget can withstand so I'm in favor of doing one-time expenditures on critical needs this is a critical need and now is the time for us to take action I'm personally not not um able to compromise on some critical positions here especially when it comes to quote enforcement and when it comes to Solid Waste yesterday an ambulance came to pick up one of the solid waste workers that to me is unacceptable and um there's stories that pile on of things because we're underst staffed or because people are not showing up for work or whatever the case is I can manage maybe you know $150 I saw like $200,000 worth but most of the positions they're needed and I'm really unable to compromise on those okay so I did do a deep deep dive on solid waste and we do have temporary workers that come in during the summer to provide relief perhaps a little bit of management needs to be done better on how to work the workers okay and merely because a worker had to be taken away in an ambulance because they had an accident or something is not going to be remedied by adding uh more bodies it's a management issue the management issue here was we needed somebody additional as a CD with a CDL license unfortunately none of the current sanitation workers have the aspiration of getting that CDL license so therefore we need to bring in somebody new from outside that that wants to take that job on some people are not cut out for management let's add that position and move forward the temporary workers solve the problem of the heat exhaustion they come in fresh they don't have rep repetitive days after days uh being out in the heat if you look at the the routines for the sanitation workers they're two days on one day off two days on one day off so that there's a a time for the body to recover from the heat it's the day after day it counts and that's why the temporary workers are important especially during the hot hot months to provide that relief so yeah so for the summer there's three temporary workers and you're year round there's six in total that we had approved um speaking to who manages that department of solid waste temporary workers really wouldn't she wouldn't be able to work with those I tried to put this subject in to see if maybe I really really wanted to compromise with you I wanted to be able to work something out here but I really really see it hard to do um I I really I I feel very very very strong about this this is going to jeopardize the quality of life of Coral Gables people live here in Coral Gables because of the services because how we maintain our streets how we maintain the the the little blocks what are they called the how we maintain them white I know that's one of the things that we were going to reduce the monument paintings Street Monument paintings and then also the maintenance inside the the the bathrooms the janitorial there was complaints about that it's a lot of little things that at the end of the day make a big difference so I really want to work with you but I I I feel very strong that this is not the right move okay so you continue to say reductions when they're not reductions positions are being added with this proposal we are not reducing services we're increasing janitorial we're increasing sanitation workers let's do this for this next year and not make the mistake of what's happened in the past in ignoring what needs to be done with City Hall I want I want I want to do something for City Hall that's something I really want to work on this is something that's imperative and we need to do something about it no matter how we do it it has to be done but I don't think it should jeopardize the quality of service and the new positions that we're going to be adding because they're needed all right if I may um I think we're mixing two issues that should not be related I agree with you there are positions that are not necessary um am I ready to say which ones they are today no I think that's what the budget hearing is for um but that's why I placed the item F6 on the agenda which was specific to City Hall I am flabbergasted at the fact that this city and its Administration in 2011 knew that there were issues with City Hall and it was kicked down the road in 2022 manager Peter E glacius was given a report saying that there was critical work that needed to be done here it was kicked down the road July of last year it was presented to the manager again and guess what I don't know about the rest of you I know I was never in informed that there were structural issues to City Hall the current manager thought the rest of us had been informed about the issues that we had at City Hall none of us were informed I know were the rest of you informed I um knew that they were doing testing which is reflected in this report regarding the materials and the walls that was ongoing in down in the conference room on the first floor you will see that there is a board there covering up one of those holes the results had not been in yet we did testing throughout more t testing was done throughout and this report that you're seeing in front of you today reflects some of those results regarding the the quality of the cement what's happened with it over a period of time you know and just like every other historic building where this city has been trying to put money into the Capital Improvements of that it's been you know it's a NeverEnding arm wrestling match on the budget in in a way of Capital Improvements to put the money where it needs to go I know there's a lot of wants and needs in this city from pickle ball on forward but City Hall needs to come first again back to my point I don't disagree with with the fact that City Hall has to come first but we are now having to fix the issues that prior commissions did not address that the former city manager neglected for years and City Hall is in a position that in a couple of years if we were just to leave it we'd have another Gondola building which collap under a prior commission and under City uh manager Peter eac's watch as a structural engineer we have two columns according to this report one under between the manager and the clerk and one between commissioner Menendez and myself that need to be structurally uh reinforced because they's sping downstairs in the assist the deputy City manager's office and the manager's assistant office I'm going to make a motion once we're done with this to cease use of this room until that is addressed and move all meetings in this chamber to the CMR until that is addressed because what we're doing and according to this report it can continue to be used but with caution we're filling this room up with residents staff members and we're putting people at potential risk because of the condition that we have allowed prior commissions prior City administrations have allowed this building to get into so yes this is a major priority $857,000 I'm not even sure that that's going to fix the problem from what I was told we're in the process of going out to bid for some of this work so we're in the process there was a list of items that needed to be addressed immediately and correct me if I'm wrong Mr assistant city manager 30% of those have actually gotten done in the last two years um uh that's correct and good afternoon uh Joe Gomez assistant city manager about 30% of the items that are part of the recertification of the building have have currently been been completed and to answer the other question um the RFQ for the full assessment which you include the assessment as well as the design and the cost estimates for the entire Rehabilitation of building that's due on September the 6th and do we have an idea of ballpark what the the cost may be uh at this point um it's going to be in the millions and the double Millions so we're going to have to find that money sooner rather than later once that RFQ comes back how quickly do we believe we'd be able to start on that work um it has to go through obviously the the process of selecting the Consulting team um that's a standard I I believe it's uh 30 to 60 days once the consultant is selected um and hired the first phase of that work will be a full assessment of what what needs to be done and that'll take into account already some of the structural work that's uh being done on the third floor right we also have to take into account that we may need historical or someone absolutely uh preservation is to be part of that team so but I believe in our budget and our 5-year uh Capital Improvement budget we had previous available balance Paul if I'm wrong $5 million for the complex so there is some funds to get the program and start doing the critical repairs after the assessment and as the vice mayor said once we know the scope and all that is if we have to go out for Bond then we do that right I mean the engineering drawings are going to be a critical piece of this that we need to move forward on repairs have been done in the past um again this report indicates that there were repairs made in the past but now it's time to do it the right way and that's that's what I'm saying we didn't have enough money to do the water tower we didn't have enough money to do the Gonda Building we didn't have enough money to do the museum in the past or certain things that were needed at the Museum my first year in office I I focused on let's seal the building let's let's get the roof taken care of because that's the water intrusion is uh a critical need so I I was starting from the top down the testing was being done on this building I was aware of that and now it's time for us to put the monies where they should be so that we don't avoid uh ballooning the budget on repetitive expenditures as opposed to putting it into one-time expenditures let's not make the mistake that the county has uh when spending additional monies so if I may one second Madam Finance director would you be so kind to come up here [Music] I know it's tough off the top of your head but could you give me a little guidance in regards to the money that we had allocated for City Hall was how much would you say roughly so we had years ago we had an amount and I don't have that amount in front of me allocated to City Hall complex and so those funds were set as were used for 427 building which is part of the 42 I'm going to go there I'm going to go there but what I'm asking is how much was thaten to I can come back to you with that information I do not have that I was here MH okay we had multiple issues in this building M trying to address the issues with the windows for some time now okay the issue was the exterior envelope of this building the roof the roof was leaking as you can tell when you look up the stairwell and you can see for example in the hallway of my office all the plaster that's broken and continues to be broken which has not been touched how much did the roof cost do you remember I'm sorry I do not have those num it's fine it's not a problem I think it was 600,000 my my point is give me one second I just want to put this on the record okay so we spent on the roof the reason why the money was relocated all of us including the previous city manager wanted to do City Hall continued to want to do City Hall the issue was that to do City Hall you eventually had to move people out of this building you had to open your boa or of architecture you had to open your your Planning and Zoning you have to open your permitting counter and the money was invested in the building next door correct yes I just want to make sure we're correct on this because it's so easy to so easy to throw dirt dirt on somebody who's no longer here but the money was not taken it was invested in our permitting building next door and we never had enough funds to fix this building that's I'm getting to that right now me I apologize want to be very clear there was never enough money period to fix this so moving on we have a great building people enjoy it our boa meets there permitting our staff has reasonable offices to now conduct business with and address the issues of the community right I I think it turned out incredibly well now we move our Focus to this building what do we have right now in the budget for this building I'm going to ask Paula to come up she has those numbers thank you Paula so for next fiscal year we've included a million dollars to go into City Hall uh um just over a million um the primary amount which is a million dollars 40,000 goes into the tower um which also needs funding and so the million dollars is going towards the windows to supplement the $2.5 million that was put towards the windows last school year so you have so you have the envelope the envelope will be taken care of which is critical correct the windows yeah yeah we have we did the roof we did the windows now we don't have any more water intrusion God willing correct that's the Hope right okay perfect now another question for you how much did we fund for Phyllis Park and are we done funding Phyllis Park so in this fiscal year we're funding approximately 4.5 million I don't have that number in front of me but about $4.5 million for Phillips Park this year the reason why I bring up Philips Park is because we all agreed to fund Phillips Park and get it done M that this is the last payment correct to fund it or we still have another payment to it well the one now coming in for October vers for the next year's budget yes for the fiscal 25 budget it doesn't matter if it was Phyllis park or it was another if it was another Park this is my understanding is the largest ticket in the budget correct in regards to Capital this year and last year so for two years running Phils park has been the largest one correct so last year it was um last year it was not um I think it was we reduced the amount going to Philips Park last year in order to be able to fund the windows so we ended up splitting the cost the water tower we moved to the water to to how much I just want i' like to know how much it was in two years the the money that was taken from Philips Park last year was split between the Water Tower and the Windows it was it was dived up into a couple of places but the correct number for this here just so that I'm correct is uh just under 4.8 4.78 so let's just make it $5 million so I I'm I think and I remember that Phils Park was going to be a total of $9 million correct or or so so that'll bring the total funding to Phillips Park to $9.4 million 9.5 million we don't need any more money for Philips Park correct we're done if the if it the budget is adopted as it is this year that the Phils Park will be fly ful funded sorry what I would recommend is making this a priority you have at a minimum one year to design to do testing to do any additional work that needs to be done here to shore up the building to design this do all engineering work architecture to bring in a restorer um you know there's one of there's a great one here u in the city of cor Gables an architect who's done a lot of historic preservation to bring in the professionals and get everything done potentially is going to take about a year bless you it's going to take about a year for you to be able to do all this work and you're going to have to permit this work okay probably going to take 3 or 4 months to permit it so you're not even going to be ready to start this work potentially unless you have emergency work like Shoring and those kind of things that can be done the real you know the real guts of the building are not going to be ready for a year and a half potentially to even start work so what I recommend to my colleagues in the commission is treat treat the city treat City Hall like we treated Philips Park as the priority for the next two years and just bifurcate the cost if it's $12 million go six and six and that will be you're already we're already used to it in the sense of we've been pushing 5 million in change and this year almost five almost four and a half $5 million we've been pushing that amount every single year for philis park for the last two years do the same thing for for um for City Hall I'm pretty sure having a little bit of an experience in construction is at this price going to take a minimum of 2 years to do to fix because of the historic nature of this building so you can I know we don't like to start projects until we have all the money budgeted but I think that we can seriously attack it in a way that we start the work maybe we do a two-phase project maybe we do the third floor then we do the next floor then we do the next floor so we can start doing the project and getting it done I don't see any other way they've talked about debt they've talked about bonds I don't want to do debt I don't want to do bonds I will vote no on that I'll vote in favor of the project but I'm going to vote no and for debt just doesn't make sense and I don't want to leave any more debt on this project we didn't do it for Phils Park we didn't do it I think we can I think we can be fiscally conservative and we can take this money allocate it to design allocate it to whatever the work needs to be done to make sure the building's shorted up this building is safe trust me I looked at the I looked at the I looked at the the the report this is not an issue again it's not an issue what what happened here was very simple was that the project was the priorities were moved and now we don't have an issue where we have any employees on the third floor now we have a a bank a a a blank slate where we can commence the work and start doing it and and take bites at at it over the next 3 years I think that's the best way to attack it again that's the will of the commission it's a reasonable approach and you know we can get this done um my turn to speak um the structural Integrity of City Hall if concern was raised 2011 that's more than a decade ago it should have been our priority how many times has the commission folks that are here the folks that were here before the administration the manager's office before how many times did we go to Tallahassee and say this is our priority the in structural Integrity of City Hall I don't recall we ever did that how many times have we go to Washington DC to ask for some funding for the Str structural Integrity of City Hall I don't recall we ever did that what we have done for example is talk about a Mobility Hub that's going to cost arguably 63 60 something million dollars I think we went to Washington for that there grants there all types of appro Appropriations that we put other things ahead of safety other things ahead of our structural Integrity why because we were never informed as elected officials that the structural Integrity of City Hall was a concern and I understand the need for the windows I understand the needs why we go for funding for different things so Gondola building Venetian pool but structural Integrity To Me means to me safety South Florida now is coming to the realization that there are buildings in South Florida and I don't want to say which buildings that have had tragic results I'm not saying that's going to happen here but it's an eyeopener we were not informed we were not told that City Hall our beloved City Hall the Cornerstone of our city has has had structural Integrity issues and we've had folks here in the past that were engineers as an as Engineers who are experts in structural Integrity they should have been the first ones to tell us this has to go to the top of the list another issue that you know with regards to this item is and I understand we have to to do something and I'm open to you know uh Bond whatever it takes to get this results because there are folks who work here every day and I want to make sure everyone's safe including the residents that come in here for whatever needs they have or they come to speak to the uh before the city commission sanitation department was discussed a little while ago and I'm not going to put I'm not going to point the finger at s the sanitation department management and workers and say that management could have done a better job or there are folks in sanitation department that don't have the what was the word the ambition to move up uh those folks as we all know work very hard and in very difficult conditions so this is an issue this is a problem that goes way beyond our staff way beyond our departments this is something that goes to the top and unfortunately the top has not addressed it it has not made it the priority number one for more than a decade we need to take action and I think everything should be considered and it's a life safety issue and um it's a serious issue can I ask may I ask you a question Douglas wood is a respected engineer in this town absolutely I'm trying to understand where does it say that we have to evacuate the building um no just asking you I'm just asking you I have not seen that written I don't want any hyperbole I'm just saying that's a very that's a strong statement that's a strong I'm just asking if if that because I've worked with Douglas wood before they're one of the most respected engineers in town I agree National nationally recognized um I've done a lot of I've done a lot of spalling repair I've done a lot of structural repair on buildings I just I don't I don't see that here I don't see in the review is there issues in the building of course every building and you can say this probably with your expertise I never said every every every single building in South Florida is going through spalling issues now every single building is there's you know there's issues with recertifications there's ISS I I'm what we should try to do is just figure out a way to move forward and address the issues and start the process um you know we have the building almost empty it's a great opportunity but I reviewed this document and I don't see it saying that there's issues here where we have to now move to another building to hold meetings and and that people are people are potentially in danger in this building there are issues there are issues there's sping issues there's exposed rebar yes but again I I don't think I think we have to be just careful when we when when you when you say that Douglas wood is saying that this building potentially needs to be needs to be uh evacuated or we need to host meetings and another we're sending the wrong message that's my opinion with all respect that's not what I said what I said was and there's a quote it is our opinion that the building can continue to be temporarily occupied while repairs are being accomplished provided City staff Andor the city's contractor exercise due caution and provided the following issues are addressed as follows within one month of the date of this letter the letter was dated 2023 May answer you July of 2023 so when you when you say oh you know we're making something out of nothing that was exactly what was said to the folks in Surf Side I lost 14 friends in that building that's not what I so it is it is you know what I mean okay it is frustrating when people go out and say there's no issue and people come in here expecting safety and this building has been neglected for 13 years while you've been sitting here for 12 but your priority was not this building it was building up a reserve funding the uh the unfunded liability because that was your priority while this building fell apart while the gondola building fell apart while the the water tower fell apart because that wasn't your priority so don't come here after 14 of my friends lost their lives because of people like this neglecting structural issues in a building and tell me there's no issue I'm going to make a motion to move all future meetings from this room to the m to the CRM until this building is fixed so commissioner if I may if I may respond please okay first off the idea that you're comparing this to Surf Site is disingenuous and disrespectful to the people who lost their lives there I also have friends and family who lost their lives there so and I know that you want this the second time in the meeting today you raise your voice and you do all the theatrics in an effort to make a statement so you can have a a a clip for later what I'm trying to do is is provide provide an answer to budget accordingly to move forward if you want to say that I dealt with the unfunded liability yes I I wanted to make sure that our employees were addressed and that they that they did not have uh we did not go in a situation where when I walked in here our our pension fund was the second worst funded pension in the State of Florida I had to deal with that so did all the other elected officials we had to take all hands on deck and put a lot of money into that we're 51% funded yes did I want to put money into our reserves 110% I wanted to make sure that we were financially sound but we also did amazing things for historic preservation and it and I I don't I don't think I need to tell you my resume my resume speaks for itself but let's keep it about the issue at hand here today and the issue is simple I gave you an opportunity and and a and a path moving forward and that is we don't we no longer have issues with employees here they're now in the new building now we have an opportunity here to address these issues Douglas wood is the conate professional I've dealt with his individual on multiple occasions we can budget like we're budgeting with Phillips Park over the next two years you cannot produce the documents necessary to attack this issue in 3 months in 6 months in 7 months you still have to permit this issue so moving forward moving forward I'd like to see the plans and the permitting address this year as expeditiously as possible and then we budget in the same way we budgeted for Phil's Park to get the project started we break it down into two phases 6 million and 6 million 7 million and 7 million whatever the final budget is I hope that construction cost will start falling over the next year hopefully hopefully even if it impacts my industry at the end of the day because I think it's important to be able to do more with the money that we have so I reiterate what I'm offering I'm not talking about Surf Side I'm not talking about the past manager I'm not talking about any of that this building as per Douglas wood who is one of the most respected engineers in town says it's safe but we got to take action can't just let it happen for the next 10 years 15 years it needs to take action and if You' like ask the manager to have Douglas wood provide a letter stating do we need to vacate the building and if he says you need to vacate the building I will be the first one to say we need to vacate the building I would Mr manager please provide the commission a letter from Douglas wood stating whether we need to vacate the building immediately and what is the protocols that they recommend so that we address the issues so that the public safety is never in Jeopardy I would like for that please understood we'll take a vote on that the mayor does not direct what happen in the city but we did have a report from dougas wood January 11th 2011 Doug I'm done yet you just said I can't do something Madam City attorney am I could I could I ask the manager to please provide me with a document and provide me with guidance in regards to an issue that I cannot go out and speak I cannot go out and speak to a subc consultant regarding an issue can I can I yes or no you can make that request of the manager okay perfect thank you very much so Mr manager request my request stands and I ask you that now it's a request it was a directive before it's a directive I ask you to please address this issue and get us a letter in regards to in regards to the matter it's simple it's not a personal don't make it personal it's an issue of of to address and move forward in a way that we get this done as quickly as possible to see if we really need to get this going I I think what happens what will happen and uh I understand what you're asking mayor I think what's going to happen the first thing we need to do is really have uh Douglas wood and and and experts come in and do a uh uh an assessment and of this particular uh uh part of the building the second floor and the first floor and then I'm sure he can come up with a recommendation but we will reach out to him and we'll be you have the answer already thank you yes sir we received the the the updated letter from Doug wood and it's it's very brief if you allow me Mr Mayor please uh in November of 2022 we prepared a structural recertification report for the above reference Building located at four5 built way a copy of that report is attached at that time we determined that numerous items need to be accomplished before this building could be structurally recertified Conformity with the minimum inspection procedur guidelines as issued by Miami day County Board of rules and appeals based on our on our observations in August and September of 2022 and based on limited subsequent observations it is our opinion that the building can continue to be temporarily occupied while repairs are being accomplished provided City staff and or City's contractor exercise due caution and provided the following issues are addressed as follows within one month of the date of this letter Mr ACM if I me thank you I've read that letter okay yes sir that's perfectly fine but my question to you my statement is not even a question is let's move forward because at the end of the day we cannot we cannot address we cannot address you cannot come in here into this building and correct this issue without plans without engineering plans you got to start doing engineering plans that's the first thing you need to do it's going to take 9 months to get 6 months to get those plans done plus an assessment and then the assessment takes time then the plans then the historic review then you got to go to permitting you know this better than anybody you've dealt with this takes time Miami Beach is overrun with historic buildings it takes time to do this probably more historic buildings than the city of corable if you look at it so my point right so my point my point is that my point is that I don't have problem if he says a building is structurally unsound we get everybody out of here but there's other there's other issues other than structural safety of of the building for the employees and that's going to be the noise that the the the work is going to entail the dust that's going to be produced there's a lot of other health issues and that we would we would look at it as a whole package once we start doing the assessments and the work as to whether uh in my opinion and the opinion of my staff is is it is it feasible for the employees to be put into that environment Mr manager in response to your statement if it's deemed appropriate that all the employees move out during the construction of the third floor the second floor the first floor whatever they're doing any type of construction I have no issues with that no issues whatsoever even if it's required during the Windows installation they need to be moved out move them out at the end of the day I have a question for the ACM then I have a request um to the city manager and what you just read it said temporarily occupied what do they mean by temporarily occupied as long as as the proper um uh repairs are continue to make the Shoring for example and all that and and provided that uh nothing as we go through the assessment as they go through the assessment and they determine that there's nothing that would be of Life Safety that would require us to to move out so I think that just cautionary wording temporarily obviously because this is a there's a lot of hiddens here that we're not at we're not at that point yet or when the assessment starts to be completed that we'll be able to see further what the that what what the repairs need to be this could be a Pandora's box once we open it we don't know what's inside absolutely um and I'm going to make uh a request um to the city manager um because I see you know what I'm understanding is the cost could be significant and we have other needs in the city as well um I asked the city manager if he could have his team uh for when we come back in September uh do research and present us options funding options outside of our budget dealing with bond issue uh not only for City Hall but other buildings that are in our um asset group that may need structural support if we're going to do this for City Hall we might as well tackle all our historic uh properties at one time and I'm not saying that that's the path we're going to go but if we're going to put it all on the table let's have your team bring us options funding options um in September please and by way if you if I may Mr clerk will you please send uh to to the manager and to his team and to all my colleagues the list of the 2020 2023 uh Tallahasse request where where we did put down $950,000 for City Hall there was some money there uh we did attempt to get some other money for for City Hall but it was not it was not approved as a result that they did not want to approve our historic building for some reason because it's I know they want they didn't want to prove it but we did go to Tallahasse we did make a request outside of the windows and all that other stuff and they said no there's other resources granting available from the historic I agree every dollar but tellah he's never going to fund City Hall it's just not going to Happ I'm just I'm responding commissioner I'm responding to commissioner Fernandez's response that we went to we went that we were chasing other priorities when when we were chasing every priority every way we can get some money to address the issue Madame vice mayor so I city manager I do have a request to so that we can properly analyze you know the steps because first step is to get the architectural drawings and Engineering drawings right now we don't have any figures our estimated fig and this is a very special process for a historic building this is not building a a a regular building this is a restoration this was done with the F Studio the historic preservation board uh which I did share this report with that is the the one from um July 30th the most recent report I didn't go back in time I dealt with the one with the current recommendations and the current status of the building and the interventions that were recommended by uh Douglas wood but we do need to know what it's going to cost how much money should we be spending this year on architectural drawings and Engineering so that we can be able to take the next step as far as the building repairs itself and I'm and I'm certain that once we start moving forward on the building repairs we absolutely will need to be out of here because the noise in the dust and everything will be horrific and hopefully we can dovetail all this together so we're doing the windows and we're doing the the what I call the bones of the building that need to be reinforced I don't see anything in the most recent report andas correct me if I'm missing something here that says that we need to immediately evacuate the building due to any life safety issue that that is correct vice mayor okay but we we can't kick the can down the road is the message let's start addressing this now abut there are temporary repairs suggested while we get the architectural drawings done and while we get the engineering drawings done so they can do further exploratory in the building to better estimate how much it's going to take to um Shore up this building properly and restore it so I'd ask you to get that to us so that we have it for the next meeting and M Madam vice mayor may ask cuz it's 1:30 1:40 almost you're right I know that we have a a Time SP at 4:30 I know we have certain other items here I just want to be CL everybody's time absolutely do you want to keep going on the conversation do you want to go have lunch do you want to get a try to get a vote now do you want to try to get a vote now or what do you want to do well my stomach is voting right now for food but so you want to what would you like to do it's your item okay I'm I'm ready to vote if you like I I mean I think we've gotten a lot of the answers here I I ask if you don't mind um for your consideration since you're the sponsor um since I asked um the manager and his team to provide us in September all the funding options that are out there if unless the this manager's office believes that we have to vote on your item now but if it can wait till we get the full fund all the funding options I would you know I ask you consider maybe deferring until then okay um even if we didn't have the issue here with the critical need on this building I would be asking us to be judicious and fiscally responsible on the head count increase because this has been an huge headcount increase and let's take a step at a time approach you know we don't you know let's deal with the critical needs so um I'm prepared to vote on this now based upon those needs and give staff time to readjust the budget uh before our next meeting rather than Landing them you know with uh Sur surpris on what the number is going to be I tried to be very judicious okay and leeway back and forth and yes I did speak to all the directors and I had that type of talk with them then I have a quick question for the administration for the City attorney for Diana and your team um if we were to vote this passes and come September we find a perhaps uh another funding path to go forward is this something that at that point we can readjust from a legal perspective yes I don't know if staff in the Practical reality I think yes it sounds like right yeah okay I just want to throw it out there that if there are um there is an alternative path going forward that makes sense and doesn't impact um you know different departments then at that point I would want to reconsider but um I respect your we can always we can always amend a budget you know let's say U we have this huge Grant that comes in it's going to take care of City Hall we can we can take that up when the time comes I guess I had I I had a follow-up question regarding the statement that you read from Doug wood that was given to us two years ago and it said we had a month to complete the items on that list were the items on that list completed um or is that the 30% that's been complet I believe that's the 30% so we were given a month to complete the items on a list two years ago and we've completed about 30% of the items on that list if I mean I think the 30% is an average number of the overall items that are required for the recertification of overall the building which you know unfortunately we're not going to be able to do until the entire building is redone that by the way includes the windows that is actually part of the recertification of the building that needs to be done it's a little bit more from the list from the list that was given as it needs to be completed within next month right so H we probably done I will saw about 90% of them but the big thing that's pending will be the choring and there's a few other things that need to be done as well but you know it was divided into things that require more immediate attention and then obviously there's the larger recertification building that it's necessary so when you do the average is the 30% based on money I believe the 30% is roughly about general for the recertification of the building itself but was it based on money because if it was if the big item that we left out was the windows then it obviously Mak sense right there's certain things that like the window for example um you know on let me make it easy for you sure let's say there was 10 items right you need to be done and you did three that means you finished 30% correct or was it a million dollar and the windows are 700,000 and you were only able to do 300,000 worth that means you finished 30% I I couldn't give you that breakdown right now but I go I go look into it further if if you could through the manager you could do that just so we can have an idea cuz at the end of day right it's a building's unsafe and the building needs to be addressed and there needs to be some Port Shores put in here need to be and you can't use the elevator and there's you know issues with delamination and rebar then we need to address it again but there's we would have never been able to address it outside of going to go rent a building somewhere to put all the employees that are now working in 427 so I'm ready to make a Sol find a solution here I don't know where we can find the money in the budget to start the engineering and architecture and all that work that required in the beginning it's going to be seven figures if not more in in a building of this magnitude probably more than that when you add up all the Consultants that are going to be used to bring this building back to its Splendor so I don't know how we're going to get the money if you wait till the next budget cycle that's a year from now so we continue we got to find a way to cut somewhere so recommendation with Madam Madam vice mayor that's that's why I um you don't want to cut positions you got to cut a job you got to cut something yeah and the these were just added positions that weren't in the budget before uh that I uh looked at the critical needs for or or not uh so to move this forward let's just make a motion I'll make a motion we have a standing motion right now I second we do but I don't have a second there I I did okay okay we hadn't heard it I didn't hear a second so public comment I promise cler can we have some public comment I will I will amend my motion to move meetings from this uh chamber to the CRM until such time as that list that was given to us that needed to be completed within a month is completed so that 10% that's left the windows no it has nothing to do with the windows it's the Shoring of this uh of the of the beams in this chamber that how long does it take to shore the beams it's not the Ching the the it needs to be designed um it needs to be permitted and then it needs to be implemented so how many month what's that two months three months two months roughly okay and is that Shoring in the opinion of the engineer Douglas wood necessary in order to occupy this building for the next two months the the on this letter said that the building is okay for continuous occupation the the the way since obviously this building is going to these letters are done like on a six-month increment so obviously it's going to take more than six month to do the entirety of everything to do those building so so we get a letter that takes over 6 month then over the next 6 month at some point he will have to come back do an assess some additional things may come up that maybe need to be addressed then and if he thinks it's okay then he will get another six-month extension and so on that's that's generally the process until the entire building is completed Mr director this was two years ago yes two years ago we were told this needed to be done correct and we're still missing things so unless we get it done and prioritize it it's not going to get done and I think unless we say we're going to cease use of this chamber and continue to tax this chamber cuz every time you add weight you're putting pressure on the beams that they're saying need to be shorted up and we already had issues in the dcms office and in Lena's office so we're adding pressure to this to this Chambers without having finished the work that was supposed to be finished by August of 2022 it's August of 2024 I stand by by my motion Mr ACM may ask you for a favor through the manager do you have a relationship with someone at Douglas wood do I have a relation with somebody who relationship Rel you call somebody Hi how are you following up on a friendship um I I mean I know many people in the industry sir I I I would have to look why why don't you speak with a manager speak with your team we have a meeting that's probably not going to end till 5:30 6:00 tonight why don't you give a call to Douglas wood and get their recommendation their person their their professional recommendation and see what they recommend in regards to the request of the commission and then we can go off our our structural engineer licensed structural engineer and make the decisions that are appropriate moving forward that's what I would do you have a you probably catch somebody there now and say look this is you can explain to them the conversation have them put it in writing in an email and say look we're going to move forward in this direction what do you recommend it it may be helpful if this commission pass a vote authorizing bid waivers for any work related to this temporary work way it's fast for us to move the I don't have a problem with that either but I would like to hear from a structural engineer who is our consultant that's it I don't have a problem with that is that okay so through the manager so are you asking him to kind of Def I'm not asking him for anything he to defer this motion until we get that letter no what I'm asking for the gentleman is to speak with the manager and do everything through the manager and have a conversation with his team and call Douglas wood right now in the break and say over the next few hours see if you can get a get build some consensus in regards to whether we need to evacuate this building um for the next few weeks until we can finalize what we would have a letter saying that no we don't I know we don't but commissioner Fernandez keeps keeps insisting on that it's two years old it's two years old it's two years old and that's fine I I respect that that's fine so I want to get an understanding whether he will send us an updated letter that happens in the indust we got that letter yesterday okay and what does it say that's why he just read okay but it's but it's again but he keeps saying that letter was from two years ago so we have a new letter we have a new letter perfect okay so then we have time to do this but if you want to get more reassurance say hi I just received your letter okay one of the Commissioners the entire commission has concerns over this fact can you just provide me with a little guidance so I can go into Mr wood to provide some just go into the commission meeting and make people feel comfortable in the fact that yes sir this building is not going to collapse okay yes sir I think that's just I think that after with his with his knowledge of the building I think it's something that is appropriate happens in our industry every day where you can go and you ask for a secondary opinion from that same from that same engineer architect on record and they're able to provide it to you okay we'll do and could you also um the manager please share a copy of that letter with the entire commission before we make a decision and then what we can do is we'll address this issue right at the end of the end of the meeting okay that's what I was just saying but that you need to request that I withdraw my motion to do that you're saying you don't you don't need to request anything you're just magnanimously making the decision I never said that you did you just told her that she asked you if you were asking me to defer my motion and you said no I'm telling staff to do this I'm not yes if I let me finish let me finish I'm not you can continue with your motion I'm just giving you an idea you want to take my idea of of how to handle it so you can get an answer and get a clear answer and not not do this by back and forth if you want to continue with your motions perfectly fine I'm not asking you to do anything you can continue if you'd like to do this you can take my idea and you can run with it if you want to continue with your motion then continue with your motion it's okay with me it's not a no kid on my back I'm just trying to help you I'm trying to help the city that's it you're trying well I mean arguably that's stopped many years ago I stand by my motion I'd like a vote prior to taking a vote Mr may I have members of the public requesting to speak yes first Speaker Mrs Maria Cruz um Mr Mayor while she comes up can I just add one detail that's important we do have our first budget meeting scheduled for September 12th the address for this the location of the meeting has been included on the trim notice so I I I think we should really take that into consideration I think that that meeting should be held here we could you know if if we absolutely had to move the meeting for some other reason we would do everything we could in terms of notifying and putting signage but just keep that in mind not just the trim Bill notice but also the special taxing districts for all not special assessments that were all noticed as well right so all those are both scheduled for September 12th we should send Peter reg glacis the bill because it was his neglect to put us in this situation couldn't we just put in the front of we have a city manager who never informed the commission of the condition of this building and has put us in this situation today a structural engineer listen I'm not arguing about the policy I'm just want to to to say we need to decide what we're going to do with the budget hearing but what you're saying is we've already sent out the the notice so we should put PE potentially put people at risk no I am not saying that let's be clear I am not saying that I'm you just said we should have it here I I I said that we need to so okay I am not taking any position I am not an engineer I do not know if this building is safe I do not take any position on that I I hope that is clear I'm saying we have a a budget hearing that was scheduled for September 12th the notices the advertisements the trim notices have gone out with this location so we would have to if we decide if we do decide to move the meetings effective tomorrow whatever um then would need to make sure that we take all appropriate steps to put the information out there and make sure the public is aware that the meeting uh location has changed and we could also put a sign in front of the door in the entrance saying look the meeting is held next door or whatever CAS course we would do that yeah and we will look into whether we can re notice or send out other kind of information so I was aware that there were issues with the building and that's why last year when I wasn't making any advancements with you all on trying to get funding in for the windows on City Hall that I made a separate resolution just like I made a separate resolution here in order for us to have a honest discussion about the need to put money in this building and I understand there's a very strong desire by three of you to move forward on on philis Park and I respect that however we cannot kicked a can down the road and I pushed forward to get the funding into this building for the windows okay and and thankfully you listened okay I was aware that the building was being tested and the concrete content was being tested so that we could ascertain what was needed to move forward we received that report on July 30th of this year I learned about it the week after I brought it to Historic preservation board because AB absolutely they need to be engaged and involved in the structural repairs of this building and we need to move forward with a type of architect that is needed and a type of engineer that's needed for a building of this nature so I prefer not to you know inflame a situation beyond what the report says because the report did not say you need to evacuate the building okay the so you can go ahead with your motion it's already a few minutes of two we were supposed to start another session a while ago um let's move forward but nobody has actually tried to inflame a situation the report that I got dated 2022 the city manager at the time was informed that work needed to be done within a month 10% of that work still hasn't been completed two years later 90% of it has been done and there has been no recommendation to evacuate the building building the recommendation at the time was that it could be used for 1 month that's 30 days it has been used for 730 days right and 90% of that work has been done correct and but it said 10 100% of that work had to be completed within a month that was what the letter stated and they stated it again in July of 2023 so I've had and they're stating it again now and I've had and I've had meetings with the manager about prior manager and this manager about the progress on the Windows you know we're waiting for engineering drawings man the manager is as frustrated as I am that that hasn't moved forward faster we're going to have to monitor whoever in our our city is responsible for sending the engineering drawings into uh the company that's going to fabricate the first window to make sure it moves forward and we got to continue to move it forward I I have a I have a last qu I have I'm sorry Maria um in an emergency situation what is a protocol or or the policy when there's an emergency situation such as this or a hurricane where do we get that money out from when there's no funding she's asking funding for when there's an emergency that needs to be addressed where do you get the fund here so when there's an emergency such as a hurricane we have fund balance we use the cash cash in our fund balance and then we get reimbursement from FEMA or the state or whoever is reimbursing for the project there's always a portion of the project that is the city's responsibility so we fund it um through the budgeting process through the any yearend surpluses we cover that at the you know before we make available in the next budget um funds so we have cash available that is what the fund balance is there for emergency purposes okay so this wouldn't qualify obviously as a hurricane so FEMA wouldn't cover this correct correct so what would be the other option in in terms of how to fund the the this the whole of City Hall I hate to say this and it's not true but I'm just putting like worst case scenario the building's falling apart so you're saying how would we if we had to immediately fund um the um the Reconstruction or the repairs to City Hall I would recommend issuing a bond and taking out the funds in the bond using the money that has been set aside for the capital the priority Capital plan program going in future years that 5.5 million that we started setting aside since 2023 and use that as the repayment method for the bonds so that we can repay the bonds fairly quickly so that we don't have debt for long-term unnecessary debt for for long term and I'm sorry and if we're going to take a bond out let's say for this building uh can we take a larger amount of bond as long as we have the money to pay for uh bond to do some of the other historical buildings that are in the priority list sure at the end of the day you just have to have the repayment yes B Tower those things that we when we we started working on the budget for this 25 20 uh 2425 one of the priorities that I spoke to staff about was was the historical buildings that I saw that there were some structural issues some issues that needed like the gondola building was pretty much non-existent and what I suggested to our staff is focus all as much of our resources as we can to historical buildings that's number one this is Iconic buildings that we have that says this is Gables so if we move on and we look at other uh facilities like Venetian pool and the tower uh we may look at my suggestion would be to look at a bond that would cover those repairs and use the money that we have set aside now for for for example City Hall at $5 million to pay down the bond is that something that would be sure practic we can yes we can do that we can take out a bond for whatever we can take out a bond for whatever dollar number we feel that we need to take out as long as we have the ability to repay it at the end of the day so how would we repay it right now we don't have additional revenues per se well again in 2023 we established this um C uh priority Capital plan program that was setting aside about $5 million this coming budget now in October 1st that last pay that payment is going towards Philips Park to finish that in the in the year after there is no other the only other assigned project is City Hall it with the intention was that for the next several years we would be funding City Hall so would have the cash in order to pay um pay for the repairs of this building however if there is an immediate need for that and to do the work yes we could leverage a bond and have that cash in order to do the project and then we have the recurring Revenue to make the payments um in order to be able to pay the bond thank you thank you Diana for your answer and I think it's very clear that there's other options to be able to fund this and we don't have to jeopardize the quality of life of our residents so it's a few minutes of two okay I'm going to move to take a break there's a Mot I understand I'm making a motion to take a break number one I cannot proceed any further without eating lunch I understand but there's a motion on the table we have to we have to have the okay we can we can take a break make a motion to take a break let's get some lunch let's get our stage s session done I cannot proceed F if I if I may if I may we have a motion and I want to finish I want to finish with public input so we at least finish that and then we'll go to have lunch okay would you like to what would you like to do with your motion I will I will um let's take public input and then we'll take her recess come back proce she can't let's she has to have right just let her Speak oh yeah she's been standing here they had already called her up vice mayor getting tired excuse yourself it's the yeah so sorry can't stay no yeah okay we are let's go go ahead if we we if we could just that's all right move forward this is Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road let me tell you the more you sit here the more you say wow excuse me ma'am we could be can you raise the microphone please we can move to an insane asylum and and look better okay number one I object to of the comments because you know what yes I did know people that die in Surf Side yes the board was told there was no urgency and that's why they didn't fix it and wow we should have known better okay but the big Point here we say we trust the staff we want the staff to know that we trust them we told the staff the department heads the directors come back with a leaning budget so they cut as much as they could cut but they had needs but now we're going to say no you know what they didn't know what they were talking about so we're going to cut the cuts that they already cut because you know what sanitation we can survive C enforcement H the city would look like a dump who cares no no you know what we're talking about big money the money that is suggested to be cut so we can do something is pennies we won't do anything by cutting that and we will we will damage the services okay I think is very interesting we're going to cut Christmas decorations you know what who wants those the residents we're going to cut things that the residents want but we have to spend $20,000 make sure the world knows that we're world class uh City and we have art you know that's very important okay the sign shop has anybody looked at the signs around the city if we go to Liberty City they look better okay but that's okay you know who cares about the signs okay the windows we had a structural engineer in charge of this city you know what if somebody comes to my house and assesses my house and tells me that the foundations have a problem do I say oh you know what I forgot I need Windows let's fix the windows first and then let's worry about the foundation that is ridiculous let me tell you if I knew how to do it I would go after his license because you know what he should have known what goes first and what goes second actually the windows you know what we survive a while without fixing them we could have said okay you know what we really need to fix this before we move on to Windows and he didn't say that okay some people have suggested to me that since Peter elesia did not like the idea of designating things historic this could have been considered demolition by neglect you know what if we let it go really bad maybe we w't have to fix it after all okay two years ago two years ago we knew that we needed to fix he was a structural engineer surami was an engineer too hello where were they okay exactly a year ago Maria crw stood here and Maria Cruz said I'm going to skip some of the stuff and I just remembered we did have the money for City Hall we could have fixed it we could have done it at that time at the price of the time below and behold we came up with a very creative move and we made City Hall the city hall complex and guess what we fixed the 427 building it was very urgent very urgent we needed to do that and forget City Hall I wonder it says here you know what listening to the conversation today a year ago I wonder if we're ever going to go to philis park it's so funny the Phillips spk was uh mentioned today again because you know what prices will go up expenses will be more than we expect and you know what Kirkman and this you're not playing ball the way they want you to play ball so parks are your interest so what's the rush with Philip Park who cares about Philips Park let's do what we want to do and maybe something else will come up in the Horizon that is an emergency and you know what phis park is not an emergency anymore so unless in 2025 see I can see future we have elections again and we elect people that really say what they mean and mean what they say we're going to be here again talking about Philip park because you know what this Administration is very good at playing games and we could have fixed we could have had City Hall fixed years ago but we chose the administration chose that 427 was more important and some of you were sitting here and we were able to do do 427 and we were able to buy a whole bunch of stuff for 427 instead of fixing City Hall enough is enough stop moving money around use the money for what is meant to be and I'm sorry Mr Menendez it says it here I know you like to be very congenial and very nice but guess what they're not being nice to you because you know what you're not playing ball with the same rules they do and write this down listen to this I write down the date and the time September 2023 and you will see that eventually Maria Cruz will be right again because that's how we play the game I'm sorry this is serious business people are watching we're listening you know what I have the minutes when we did the budget that we had the money for City Hall not the city hall complex not 427 the city hall but that was not important it was better to let City Hall get damaged than to fix it at the right time I'm sorry I don't believe I don't trust and mrman in this you're paying the price for not playing the playing by the same book repeat history repeats itself doesn't it minutes are good keep playing games let's wait someday we'll be sorry but guess what it'll be too late Mr CL Jackson Holmes so I I don't know if uh it's better to laugh than to cry right so I'm I'm going to see if I can uh make a joke I was praising you at the beginning of the meeting because that's you're the only reason I'm here I I don't want to get my head bashed in in the former government but I need to see if I can invoke sympathy in whoever thinks that we can do a tax Bond um so I don't like to divulge my personal finances but it's the only way to be uh to explain my position M if if we do a tax bonds uh I hate to say this but our friend mayor logo is right about the impact of taxes on businesses so um God I can start crying here but anyway so uh first of all I don't have hurricane insurance to cover my building now I do have hurricane insurance and it's basically worthless because why if a hurricane hits us I can't rebuild my hurricane insurance will not pay and I'll be I'll be done you know I'll be I'll have to go into bankruptcy um so nobody cares about that they care about whether City Hall could uh could collapse but what about my building what about all these other buildings with people on the brink without adequate hurricane insurance now here's the second thing and and I really don't like to you know disclose my personal finances but I it's it's applicable so I I re renewed my lease two years ago right or four four two years about six months ago and so in the lease the tenant get is gets what they call passrs they have to pay for the taxes and insurance a a good professional Le says that that those are flowthrough expenses and the tenant has to cover them so my tenant knowing that I couldn't find someone else in the short time because that's a half a million dollar expense of new bill out and all this stuff he says we're not going to pay your taxes and I said well you have to and he says no we don't you you want us to renew uh we're stop telling us to pay your taxes and so I said well uh that's really nice of you to back me into a corner I'm talking to my tenant uh but I had to he said take it or leave it and he he's paying half of the tax I don't I don't want to be inaccurate but so half of the taxes then are falling upon me now you're thinking about raising a tax Bond please stop this this is a deal breaker we'll have a ghost town on Miracle Mile um we'll have people who don't have taxpayer money to back them up we need uh please if I got a better idea let's sue the former city manager for not addressing this problem he is guilty of Mal Fe rip if I me Mr Holmes sit down with the manager so we can explain to a little bit about who pays for the bond it's not I'm sorry I can't hear if you don't if you would do me the pleasure if you sit down with the manager so he can explain to you or the finance director through the manager who pays for the bond the city will be paying for the bond if that even happens it's not the taxpayer at the end of the day okay so I want to be I want to play fair different kind of bond I want to pay Fair here I don't want I don't want there to be a I want speak I don't want you I don't want you to be misled okay this is news to me can you do me a favor can you do me a favor can we move on so I can go so we can we have a meeting now at at well I'll I'll have you explain it to I'll make an appointment with you whatever you like you can come and see me on Fridays we're open Open Door Fridays come and see and spend time with me next speaker Robert ruano Mr Rano good afternoon good afternoon can you hear me yes sir good afternoon hi I just wanted to uh mention something about this issue uh City Hall is a very important piece of Coral Gables and I um I commend the finance director and the city manager for recommending a bond I think a bond for City Hall and for other historic buildings is a great idea I would support it as a resident um oh forgot uh 1544 Mercy Avenue um and then then I would say and and commissioner Fernandez brought it up which I think should be brought up is that we were just thinking about a bond of 40 million for a Mobility Hub that doesn't connect anywhere that doesn't really do anything and we don't really need so now we have a real need this is an urgent need U so I think we should do it and and to Mr commissioner Fernandez uh thank you for that I I think you have a genuine concern uh for the safety of residents and people there and I appreciate that and I I've dealt with a similar issue on a historic building I would tell you that that you know instead of the politicians deciding if somebody should leave the building talk to your engineer your building official let the people that are responsible for your safety and that building safety come up on the dius and tell you exactly and if they say it's safe until you can go ahead then you know and and get it fixed and it's safe and then finally I would tell you every year uh in June there is a a grant that you can apply through to the state which you have applied before but this is a great opportunity to apply over half half a million dollars at least to protect this building thank you very much have a great day thank you that's it Mr Mayor all right so we have a motion a second we decided to uh take a recess and then come back yeah right that's what we'll do okay perfect we will be back I guess when we finish thank you I'm glad you finally entertained that well when you left I said it I was like let's just listen to her because she's already up now listen I didn't want to be no [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] what [Music] what n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e for for for [Music] [Music] [Music] e e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] super Mr clerk you ready yes Mr Mayor all right let's start off with the H1 city manager items we can push through these Mr Mayor I apologize before we moved on when we went on break we had a motion on the floor I just wanted to see how we proceed with that motion so um I spoke I spoke with staff uh uh during the break um the current letter that we have on the table gives us a month so they're going to be reviewing the items that have been ticked off this list uh and what is pending and I've asked them to bring that back to us at the next commission meeting September 10th so I'm withdrawing my motion pending hearing that on September 10th thank you sir okay and yes we can either proceed with a vote on this now so the St manager has direction or we can diver this item also to September 10 it's up to you whatever you like you're you're the sponsor manager which one would you you prefer I'm putting you on the spot I take the directions we'll we'll move forward and get the information pardon the question to to me is do you do you want us to vote on this now so you have direction or no we can we can defer to micone oh we can defer it all right then we'll defer it so that was F5 yes that's F5 and we we've we've done the discussion F6 yeah we deferred F6 and I will defer the lighting discussion F10 is being deferred yeah F10 anybody else wants to jump on deferring all right so let's move on we'll move on to item H1 H1 is a resolution of the city commission accepting the recommendation of the chief procurement officer to award HG construction development and investment Inc as the sole responsive and responsible biders for Transit stop improvements for Last Mile pursuing to section 2763 of the procurement code entitled contract award and invitation for bids 20244 how are you good afternoon good afternoon Tanya donigan assistant chief procurement officer with the finance department this is for the ifb for Last Mile Transportation trolley services it is through a match Grant with fdot and we are awarding to HG construction this was a a grant that we pursued a couple years ago and then the uh the grant came back awarded for a particular style we've put a little uh decoration on it m and uh caller yes a million dollar Grant million doll Grant so we'll be able to get some trolley Stu stops that have some protection and some seating and some 88 improvements in some of the other existing stops even the ones that are not that don't have uh an actual shelter on it right so it's uh it's going to be helpful when you're sitting out there in the sun in the heat in the rain so if no one else has any other comments no public comment I'd like to move it I'll second commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor logo yes moving on to H2 H2 is a resolution of the city commission waving the competitive process of the procurement code pursuing to section 2- 501d of the city code authorizing a 5-year license agreement between the City of Coral Gables and bonjour Express Coral Gables LLC for the operation of the Le par Cafe at the Coral Gables golf and country club uh Mr mayor M Zeta sardinas is uh participating via Zoom today okay sardinas how are you Mr can you hear us Zeta can you go ahead and unmute I see her sharing her screen but she doesn't seem to be unmuting while we're waiting I'll just add that I did speak with its City attorney about some slight modifications one was a 7-year um retention of records and the other is some additional language regarding okay can you hear me now a barriers and I believe uh that the LIC has accepted those uh changes correct they have hey Z how are you I can hear you guys um give me a second okay I cannot hear you unfortunately I know you can hear me but I cannot hear you okay you say what okay there you go oh now I can hear you there you go I just heard commissioner Caster all right J thank you okay sorry okay good afternoon everybody um okay um so um I know the City attorney already read the item I wanted to just do a very quick things that I wanted to put on the record um so on October 11th of 2023 uh pursuant to the resolution that the city commission passed we wave the competitive process and authorized the manager and the City attorney to negotiate a 90-day license agreement uh with a license C to provide food and beverage services at the coral Gable's uh golf and country club Park Cafe which includes the cafe area and shared space on the 27th of November we then entered into a 90-day license agreement with bonjour LLC um and we extended that agreement through a first second and third amendment um while evaluation uh and negotiation took place between the city and the lensy um on October 11 okay so um sorry since taking over operations on November 27 bonsure has expanded the cafe hours um Monday through Saturday 7 to 8 Sunday 8 to 6 provided additional varieties of baked goods cakes and Specialty menu items including three types of burgers which have met with positive feedback from the community coordinated combined marketing initiatives with the city City's Communications and community recreation departments developing content and special promotional events resulting in additional sales increased followers on the Le Park Instagram page and positive feedback from Community patrons and country club members when shures o promoted the Le Park location on its established Instagram Pages um they've taken responsibility for some of the city's expenses and operating cost and increase their service personnel with a dedicated general manager additional Staffing for weekends and weekday peak hours uh providing faster more efficient restaurant management and customer experience for patrons um they are also providing ongoing poolside service for the country club membership including special event activations um the initiatives have led to positive customer feedback results out of 76 respondents on toast they receive 69 positive and seven negative ratings so they have a positive percentage of 91% and 9% negative and both Google and yel preview ratings they're at 4.4 stars um I here have uh um a uh basically where the sales have been since they took over um and I have done that year over-year uh of the previous operator as you can see their sales have significantly increased um even during the summer um and then uh if you take the totals their sales year-over-year over the previous operator have gone up 44% um we've negotiated a license agreement um uh with uh they have formed a new company for this particular location um and uh called bonjour Express cor Gables um this is a 5-year license agreement that starts 82824 through 82729 it includes one additional 5year renewal option at the city's discretion requiring City commission approval um it also includes a 120-day termination for convenience available to both the Lor and the lense by providing notice accordingly um as part of the agreement a license fee is going to be due to to bonjour for 85% of monthly grow revenues less taxes less 85% of the cost of alcoholic beverages which the city is purchasing and are being sold by the licy on the city's behalf 100% of gratui stay with the licy the licy will purchase um an additional display case for the front area and will be responsible for maintenance and repairs of that display case going forward the city will continue to be responsible for utility charges the dishwasher Lees hood and Interceptor system maintenance pest control and maintenance of the city-owned kitchen front of the house and refrigerator equipment the license c will continue to se select train and employee employees or independent contractors to procure prepair and provide prepare and prepackaged food and beverage services will pay for its proportionate share of any taxes Lev against the country club property and cover janitorial services including biannual Cafe area deep cleaning um the license c will also continue to meet the city Standard Insurance requirements for general liability work compensation Auto auto liability liquor liability and property insurance they will also continue to actively cooperate with Community Recreation Department in their marketing efforts and will include Le Park's social media accounts the lcy will work with the city to ensure that all published content and direct messages are recorded via archive social to remain in compliance with public record laws the proposed resolution waves the competitive process of the procurement code pursuant to section 2501 D and approves the license agreement for five years between August 28th 20124 and August 27 2029 staff recommends approval thank you let me know if you have any questions I have none I have none no I'm happy to move it sor second Mr K do you have any comments no Mr Mayor yeah I mean just to reiterate the the note that the City attorney said that the U ly was willing to accept the seven-year term and the additional language that's the attorney added regarding removal of barriers so that you know if they put something in a way it's not our fault um it is the lenes Fault now that you bring that up um there's one thing Zeta um they have been placing the A-frame advertisement for the park on the sale which they're not supposed to okay uh so if you could just let them know um cuz they used to put it out front by the sidewalk or by their entrance walkway they've been putting it on the corner on the soil lately which is not allowed okay sir I will make sure that um they take care of that than all right Mr KK vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Menendez yes mayor logo yes moving on to H3 H3 is a resolution of the city commission authorizing an amendment to the fiscal year 2324 annual budget to recognize a transfer from the city clerk special revenues Reserve in the amount of $250,000 and to appropriate such funds for the cost to be used towards the cost of the roof replacement at the passport office any questions no happy to move it I'll second commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes mayor loo yes thank you to the clerk for the reserve funds good job H4 is a resolution of the city commission authorizing entering into the sixth amendment to lease agreement with new Singular Wireless PCS LLC with regard to City owned property located at 11911 Old Cutler Road Crow Gable Florida City attorney how are you sir good afternoon Mr Mayor vice mayor and Commissioners assist City attorney Gus B so this item is a Prett straightforward it is a sixth amendment to this lease they were requesting to modify some of their equipment on the tower we analyzed it it's not the the tower can handle the changes it's not a significant change but we had an opportunity to revisit the agreement and uh We've made some minor changes the most important to the city would be that there's an additional $250 a month increase to the rent if you have any questions please let me know I'll move it a second commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes mayor loger yes thank you to the attorney's office H5 update on Saturday Downtown Express page five good afternoon good afternoon Monica Bel parking and Mobility Services director um as as noted in the cover memo the um the service that was provided as a pilot program to go from south of US1 down to the Miracle Mile did not prove to be successful in that uh it had an average ridership of about 50 uh passengers on Saturdays and amounted to about $22 per boarding and at those rates it didn't uh it doesn't seem to be uh recommendable it just not a a good return on money so we wanted to advise the commission and also U the service was suspended with one month notice to writers thank you thank you for the update it pains me to hear that but you know we have to be as efficient as possible hopefully we have trolley expansion in the near future we can get this back thank you moving on to item f8 discussion regarding um duplicate Residential Waste fees issued and future methods for calculating and issuing single family Residential Waste fees with the noise I heard presidential waste fees [Laughter] it might be appropriate but right now we're talking residential okay all right all right so I'm fairly sure like I you've all received emails from residents that got duplicate waste fees oh yeah and that the reason why they got duplicates is it was based upon the number of units on a piece of property as opposed to you know the address being serviced historically through our city and units described by my mommy dat County property appraiser um are more U are different for historic properties because they had those little Cottages in the back for the maid quarters Etc from decade or so ago so um our staff made up an Excel sheet I've talked to a lot of residents as you all have regarding the next steps for the future in the meantime when we lowered the waste fee we we talked about we need to start wrapping our heads around a better way to calculate residential was waste fees because the amount that people um utilize or I should say put into waste is different from smaller homes or smaller properties than it is for larger properties so some things that are food for thought and I'd like some input from and ideas from from staff not not necessarily today but perhaps let's get this keep this discussion moving so we have a conclusion sometime I would hope by before the end of the year um is you're dealing with the square footage of the homes you have to deal with the number of bedrooms in a home and you have sizes of yards and all Impact differently the amount of waste that a a yard produces albeit some of us have more palm trees and some of us have more trees um so opening this up for you all to share your thoughts with staff have meetings with staff and let's bring this in for a landing before the end of the year so I've been sitting with staff uh working on a solution I'll probably be bringing that up to to commission before the end of the year my target is October after budget season is completed uh so that we have enough time to vet it run it to their Community uh before we have to vote on it in June uh so we're working on potential um way to calculate it that'll be a little more Equitable this has been brought up this is the first time I hear this um this has been brought to my attention before people who don't have two units but they've been build for two units in the past and the reason that we're being buil some people are being build for two units now is because we're using the system the data given to us by Miami dat County which has designated certain properties as having two units um so I'm I'm working on something I'll I'll probably be presenting it in October so this is what want to ask staff each and every one of us need to have meetings with you to discuss alternative proposals and hear your suggestions so that by the time we get come back here in October we can have you know a more intelligent discussion vet certain proposals back and forth and figure out what's going to work out best for the city and what's going to work out best for the residents M vice mayor just I want to make sure we're clear so I had three individuals and I dealt with Gus and the and their Law Office in regards to clarifying these residents that were having issues with their bills are we talking about a handful or a dozen people or are we talking about our waste all together talking about I want to understand because that issue that issue you know they're dealing with it they're dealing with the county it's pretty straightforward how it's got to be addressed we got to find a solution I talked to the DCM about it we actually met with with u with some of the residents to see how we can get that fixed but are we talking about the entire waste effort are we just talking about the billing are we I'm trying to well IAL I talked about the billing issue because we you know we did it by address in the past and because we have a different computer system you know it really shouldn't become a headache for the resident because our computer system is drawing down data differently so that's problem number one and we made up an Excel sheet it's roughly 200 residences number two two we talked about um examining other ways to assess waste fees that is more Equitable across the board to to Residents um it's something we need to explore and I don't want to wait till you know May of next year when we have to decide on what the the waste bill will be to at least have a robust discussion and the best way is to look at alternative proposals with staff ahead of time and then we can come back and discuss it in October to see if it's there's a fe feasible solution we can also look into you know additional things that we can do to help bring down waste fees and see if there if those opportunities are available in the past they haven't been so it'll bring help bring down waste fees at least a portion of it so Diana Gomez Finance director so in terms of the operation and how to change the operations that's not something that I would per se I mean yes we can I can work with staff in the city manager's office to see how that impacts um the um how we bill um there's so yes in that sense we can work together but in terms of um how each unit is how much each unit is going to pay so right now if we remember when we reduce the solid waste fee we're not covering the cost of solid waste we are subsidizing um at this point almost 50% if not a little bit more of the solid waste costs um so that's a discussion that we've talked about many times in the past about how are we going to overall bring down Solid Waste I'm not operations I don't you know I'm not going to pretend to understand how to change the operations of solid waste to make it cost less but in terms of how we bill um we can discuss okay so how much of the solid waste expense are we willing to absorb versus Charge and then how are we going to charge it to individual properties it's very difficult because if you do it this is just my thoughts if you do it based on the size of the home that may not be Equitable either because sometimes in the smaller homes you have more people living there sometimes in the larger home they're only there for two months out of the year or 3 months out of the year and they don't generate any so it's very difficult and there's no way for us to know right so our Solid Waste crew they go to every house that is as long as it's an inhabitable house it's not under construction they will go to the side and pull garbage whether there's garbage there or there's not they're going to pull it so every home has to pay regarding the um the two unit versus one unit um our code has always required that an auxiliary unit pay um you that rather the solid waste assessment is per living unit and so the living unit information is um we didn't have access to that there are a lot of properties that do have auxiliary units which they would have to pay one and a half units um but we didn't have that distinction per the information that we had it's I guess in the past it was really just self-reported you had to report that you had an auxiliary unit for us to know about it we never did inspections to see which home has or doesn't have with the new with the new system that came into play we were able to I was more involved with that pulling the data in so as I was seeing the data that is available from the county I was able to say oh they provide us the living unit information so we might as well use it and so yeah a lot of people came back and said hey but I it's not a full second unit it's not a second address or it's not a duplex and okay so they fix it with the county and then we we're building them for the one and a half units as we should whereas they've always had that structure maybe for 30 years and they've never paid that auxiliary unit fee even though it has always been due but we're not going back and charging for you know we're giving a courtesy this year also letting them have time to work with the county in order to fix it going forward because we understand that sometimes it's difficult dealing with getting information change so that's for billing the units that actually um that we have the information and and I don't even know I couldn't even tell you that the county information of the two units or the one and a half units is complete either I'm just building it based on the information that we have access to the property op's information is the official record of a property so I thought that is the proper way to do it um but in terms of moving forward as to what we're going to build or how much we're going to or how we're going to build different type YP of property a different way um I'm not sure you know we can talk about that and obviously I'm willing to meet with everybody and anybody that and we can have those discussions to see how we can get there um but then I would I don't know about the operations part of things to see whether or not those operations have to change in order to um reduce the costs let me let me give you a hypothetical sure you have some homes that may have one can you have some homes that have two cans right fill them up an auxiliary unit normally would have an additional garbage can because you have an additional per person living in there whether it's a rental unit or not well it's not allowed to be rented so I I understand but how many cans are filling is a is a one of the indicators there's many ways that we can slice this bread but I don't want to be waiting until May to have this discussion I wanted I want my colleagues to start thinking about this now is there a way that we can be more arable about it can we look into you know we talked about multing services and the other one it was um the facility that turned it into Char to to deal with yard done already in Tallahassee it's being done in Tallahassee and the other one is supposed to be available here very soon too either way the point is if you can get clean yard waste such as with the additional pickups when you do your tree trimming you know you have that special pickup just for yard trimming instead of paying a tipping fee on that you'll pay a lower rate all this needs to be explored and does that mean it's going to happen this next coming year it might not it might not but at least if we can start planning and we want to have for instance convert the um piece of property on 72nd Avenue for a transfer station for garbage and waste uh if we want to offer that out for um different landscape firms that are certified have been work here that they take it out there for us on their way out and supposed to just dumping it all over the north Gables and so forth and be able to control waste here little more I mean these are all discussions that we can have with staff and analyze the feasibility of each and every one of them some of them may not be feasible yet may not be feasible for two years we might have to fix the property out of 72nd Avenue and cap it off first because you know it has has issues but it's a longterm planning project that we need to do so we'll put you we have our meetings with staff we'll bounce around some ideas let's reconvene in October and have a deeper discussion okay that's it agreed all right thank you moving on to item F9 um discussion regarding the vacancy in the mayor's office uh I know that there is a current vacancy in the mayor's office and I want to congratulate uh Gabby on her promotion to the manager's office uh I know was is a well earned uh promotion um the commission currently has two commission AIDS um we've been operating on one and a part- timer the four of us sharing the four members of the commission the mayor's office has had two um I had been talking to Peter gacis about this I had talked to the the manager about shrinking the size of uh Personnel in that office um going into next year's budget I think this presents an opportunity what I would like to do is freeze that position now while we have discussions going into the budget for next year and whether one member of the commission needs two full-time staffers uh versus the rest of us sharing two full-time staffers thank you commissioner I'm going to give you some facts so you can make the decision yourself and if you'd like to you control a commission you control a manager and it's perfectly fine but I'm going to give you some facts so that everyone can understand the depth and the breath of the conversation so it's not just you have two you have more than two you have multiple members you have two full-time Liaisons you have one part-time liaison and one is proposed additional full-time liais on in this budget so you have four people okay the manager the commission the commission the the mayor before me always had two people there was a part-time position that was made full-time not a problem you want to make it a part-time position perfectly fine it's just tough to find people but let's discuss the issues at hand okay this agenda item is not yet is yet another blatant attempt to obstruct the progress that I've been driving for our community it's becoming a disturbing pattern with commissioner Fernandez who seems more intent on undermining my office than fulfilling his duties to the residents we've seen this obstructionism before whether it was the effort to remove the entrance feature in my office the underhanded proposal to dissolve the mayor's Council or the attempt to stop me from donating and installing a luxury clock on Miracle mount in honor of our C cenni which the commission had already approved now they're targeting a critical budget position in my office a role that is absolutely essential given the significant and this is why I want people to understand and listen significant workload my team manages daily okay so put this into perspective I'm going to give you actual numbers so people can understand to put this into perspective we recently pulled it data on the call volume for for both the commission and the mayor's offices so I'm not even going to go one Commissioner versus another commissioner I'm going to go all four Commissioners versus the mayor okay over the past 90 days a slow season for my office by the way the entire commission staff representing four elected officials received a total of 97 calls this is all this is all data from City staff okay this is not from me this is done by the city 97 calls in contrast my office representing just one elected official handled 920 calls in the same period calls coming in I'm not even talking about calls were putting out so I did more I did four times with less okay additionally email summary reports indicate that I received the most inbound and outbound emails compared to any other member of the commission let me give you some facts I have them here this is also done professionally by staff and I'll make it into the public record my office handled almost 7,000 emails sent since January 1st the total amount of emails received is 9,625 and before you say oh yeah but that has to do probably with like you know massive amounts of email lists that are sent out and you know sending to Residents that has nothing to do with contstant content this is just emails in and out from my office that's almost 18,000 emails sent since January when you compare it to Mr Fernandez since January he sent out 812 emails start difference commissioner Mendes sent out 1,300 commissioner Castro sent out 970 but but the vice mayor sent out 6,200 she almost caught me I had 7,000 however that alone doesn't paint the entire picture we must also consider the Myriad of responsibilities my office handles daily programmed events Community programs we manage consistent public Outreach efforts ribbon cutting coordinations constituent services like office hours and much much more let's not forget at the amount of legislation that comes from my office the demand of the mayor's office are far greater as they should be given the role of the mayor as the Figure Head of the city as the mayor of a worldclass city my office is the engine behind an immense volume of work from handling resident concerns to managing actionable items that Propel our community forward I do not meddle in the internal affairs of your office even though it's clear the workload and responsibilities do not even compare I expect and demand the same level of respect and professionalism when it comes to the way that we conduct business here in the city if you want to have your own assistant you should do it I recommend that in addition to the points I've outlined I must emphasize a significant amount of staff time and City resources that have been diverted to re rebu efforts aimed at undermining my leadership the time spent countering misinformation and addressing these unnecessary distractions is not just frustrating it's a waste of valuable resources that could be better utilized in service to our residents I strongly encourage you to consider the impact of these actions and make better use of our city staff by focusing on initiatives that truly benefit our community if more time and energy we spent focusing on our residents and working together to improve our city great things could be accomplished this city deserves leadership which prioritizes progress over Petty politics it's time to stop these transparent attempts to derail the work that truly matters advancing the interests of our residents and ensuring Coral Gables remains a beacon of Excellence if your goal is to remove a position from my office I strongly encourage you to review your current structure you presently have two full-time Liaisons a part-time leaon and recently budgeted for another full-time position that's four people I don't think that's accurate but let me finish ask H director let me let me just finish if you let me finish I promise I will I will finish and and I will we can move move on you can correct me if you'd like but the emails and the emails and the and the uh the emails and the phone calls is correct that's a bottom line so and you can and I'm going to make it a public record and you can look at it okay please keep in mind that the position in my office has been budgeted for and has existed for years we should not allow this City's progress to be compromised by those who put personal agendas over the public good our residents deserve better and I'm committed to ensuring that they receive nothing less once again it seems this commission has a majority so at the end of the day I can only put the facts on the record why are these multiple attempts to attack and dismantle my efforts why can't we all focus on what is best for the city why can't you instead of throwing stones build a castle with those stones you should be able to tell me right off the bat five pieces of legislation that you've written in the last year and a half that you're proud of I will tell you what I'm doing I'm providing next month a beautiful website that'll have everything that I've done in the city everything that I'm proud of everything I've done philanthropically everything that I've written every piece of of legislation from a resle to an ordinance every board that I've served on it will be my living resume online so people can look at it and say what has he done and what does he failed to do once again it seems the commission is a majority like I mentioned and let's move on from this I urge you to Rise Above This Division and work together for the betterment of our community my understanding is that there are four people in the commission that that I stated those positions if I'm wrong I ask for HR to to correct me by the way on the record um Mario Cruz's statement before about I had to look up this is how much time we waste about how much we spent on the on the on the furniture it wasn't 14,000 here's the actual receipt it was $7,000 and it went through permitting and it went through engineering and it went through all historic here's the Fe here there was a public record request that was released which showed $144,000 that was the the public record request that was released by staff piece of let's $1,000 including installation my point is that my point is madam HR Mr clerk do you have a copy of that that you can show you can I can get it sir no no no can you show us right now can you pull it up on the screen give me a second okay cuz it was $14,000 I have a receipt right here for I mean the amount whatever still there regarding yes ma'am go ahead good afternoon so currently we have a senior commission liaison a regular full-time commission liaison that was added during this fiscal year and a part-time commission liaison so two full-timers and one part-time for four people you want you can you can you can get a fourth person if you like but if you look at the calls and you look at the emails you can't compare the volume that I that I do with in my office you can't because we don't have enough people to help us as far as far as for me I'm I feel like I'm a on man team there's so much more that I would be able to accomplish if I may if I may just to correct you when we talk about emails these are my emails these are my emails that I've written as a commissioner not my staff I didn't I haven't pulled that yet because staff told me that it would be too much work to be able to pull all the emails in January this is what I've done myself this is what you've done this is what ronda's done Kirk and Ariel these are your own emails this is how much work you've produced in emails responding to Residents and dealing with business issues so the bottom line is it's not other people it's not your staff's email this is what I do this is it's this is clear it's the people writing me and me sending a response to them to address their issues outside of my staff that's completely different those are additional emails that are added to this and we can look those up I just felt bad for staff on Friday asking them to do this on such short notice yeah the re the reality of life is that when we're looking at a ratio right a ratio of two for one and then two for four it doesn't make sense now if we had the capability of adding more people to ours which I don't think we do that would be a perfect solution I wouldn't have a problem with you having three if we can go ahead and have 12 I mean that would be I'm even willing to get if it's if it's such a big deal for you I'm even willing to get to a bring it down to a part-time person I'm more than flexible but the idea is you can't hide by the fact that the numbers are the numbers these are data from staff this is data from staff it's clear of what the phone calls are that are handled in my office all of your phone calls added don't even add to the phone calls incoming this is incoming phone calls to my office and then the emails are clear as day you have you have almost 7,000 emails that I've sent myself since January versus AR Fernandez 812 these are me this is me while the vice mayor is doing I have to write emails my staff has probably written double that if I look it up so that's just my work product didn't get it one of the reasons I chose not to run for mayor is because when people want to come see someone and I see it here on Fridays cuz I I'm at the opposite end of the hall everybody wants to see the mayor we're we're secondary okay I happen to get the trickle down because the mayor happens to be down at the other end of the hall and they realize I'm here too so I'll I'll get some of that that volume because everybody wants to see the mayor it's just you know when you want to get projects done you want to get your house redone you have an issue people come see the mayor and that's just the reality of being in that position you're in their ear the center of the bullseye you're you know and you're the person that they want to see so yes it naturally and inherently always will have greater volume no matter who's in that office because that's the position it is and I promise you and I'm sorry interrup with you but I promise you one day when I'm no longer here and one of you is the mayor or maybe somebody else you're going to hope you're going to ask for additional person and every staff member here can tell you outside of the manager who doesn't meet with me um every single person here can can tell you that I copy on emails I I get I respond at all hours of the day doesn't matter what time it is starting at 4:30 in the morning I start responding and my staff does the same thing always trying to do everything in our in our power even when we have to tell them no to make sure that we respond and we respond accordingly because at a minimum that's what the residents deserve and that's the same thing that you do with your bandwidth with your bandwidth I'm not attacking anybody else just if you want to if you want to continue attacking me just be careful when you attack me because the level of work speaks for itself and the public record is here Mr Mr Mr clerk will you please put up the mayor's office responsibilities so that everybody's clear we do Town Halls two three times a year we meet with constituents every Friday the my I'm not putting that up so who's putting that up I put it up because I made a request a few seconds ago and they were trying to put that up it should have gone up first this is part of my presentation right but I had you have it doesn't matter at the end of the day it is what it is you we'll get to see your thing now you can prove me wrong that it was $144,000 all I know is I have a receipt here for $7,000 it doesn't it doesn't matter doesn't matter the end of the day look I haven't it does matter because that's taxpayer dollar and if you're tell telling us that it was $7,000 when there's public record request showing it's 14 how can we believe the numbers you're showing us now because this is were you lying to us then or were you are you lying to us now commissioner commissioner commissioner simple everything here was document one is two commissioner commissioner relax listen everything was documented everything was pictures were taken this was required to be this way because of historic preservation it was the only way to build like the manager I don't fault the manager for installing a you know a fob in his office he has a vestibule commissioner mandez commissioner Castro have a vest people can walk in and they meet somebody commission commissioner Fernandez has to go through the vice mayor's office for a vesu no which is what we always did I always kept your door locked let me finish no my door's unlocked let me finish let me finish because I always kept that door locked and we always went through commissioner mana's office and I was always the one over there so at the end of day it doesn't matter the point is that it was done for safety we have and the police chief was here you can ask him we had multiple incidents in our office with our staff but we had certain people walk in and and they were I want to be careful what I say because at the end of the day it was a very hostile situation in my office not with me with the individuals that were work that work in my office that's number one number two I walked into my office and I think the ACM was with me the DCM was with me and I walked in and there was a gentleman in my bathroom right there was a gentleman in my bathroom and I asked him sir how can I help you he says oh I just thought I could use his bathroom so there has to be a moment where where you you just say you know stop playing the pettiness and if you want the documents we even have all the permits for that structure it's beyond that let me do my job as mayor and when one of you become mayor you can you can work you can have the appropriate staff to ramp up and have the infrastructure to address your needs that's the bottom line that's it right now one is 50% more than each of us has okay so right now just with one eliminating the other is still 50% more than what we have which I think is more than appropriate given the fact that you have certain duties that that are more than ours okay but you don't answer okay look you know what I'm not going to argue with you I'm not even going to discuss it let's move on make your vote just take just just dissolve it it's we have the vice mayor has according to you almost as many email returns as you have last time the vice mayor said we didn't need to add staff in the Commission office because we had enough and we're sharing and she's been able to take on the same bandwidth as you can I tell you why can I tell you why because the she's here every single day when as are some of us so again commissioner with all due respect there's you can't tell me that you write 812 emails since January you're averaging you're averaging 60 emails a month that's two emails a day and I call the residents back I talk to the residents so do I I don't send them a 5-second email I call them I go visit them when they tell me I have an issue in my block I don't say oh let me let me try to figure no I show up at their block and I try to see what the problem is I spend the time to go out there and talk to them I don't have staff I don't bother the manager and staff and have them go out there at 5:00 in the morning the manager the manager would not allow me to meet with staff on the Block anymore so that hasn't because you've been using you've been you've been using City resources to campaign you just said it you're preparing website to talk about your accomplishments in this commission as a candidate for office no it's not I paid for myself you want to know why so then I'm going to tell you why you can't anounce it here of course I can because at the end of the day I pay for myself just like I you keep saying these statements you can't say this you can't do that and then you're refuted Madam City attorney let's refute that am I allowed to talk talk about a website that I build myself and pay for myself that talks about all my accomplishments in the city of course I can mayor I don't know the details of it so I don't know it's about it's about City accomplishments that's it you you can talk about something you've done certainly but but in terms of you know what is on there I don't know sir she doesn't know but I talk about I talk about it's a City website that deals with City issues commissioner at the end of the day you control the city you have the manager the manager let me meet with staff the manager won't meet with me you're seeing you want to hide behind the fact that you don't produce you don't produce work or legislation at the end of day it's fine just take the employee if that's what you want to do but we got a 430 time St make your move and Let's Roll by the way intention was to to end the other uh position which is making $101,000 in next year's budget and this is my compromise because staff said we should not terminate a positioned Authority in the budget and the person still employed because I did not think that we should be spending $160,000 on salaries for the mayor's office commissioner I've giving you the facts if you want I have to if you want to be responsive if you want to be responsive and you want to provide the service these these positions were there from before I became mayor one was a full-time one was a parttime at the end of the day if you want to discuss about the issues it's very very simple if you want to make a move and you want to terminated position that I have that's open that's perfectly fine we move on like I said my motion is to freeze the position until we discuss it in the budget uh I never dabble in any of your efforts you dabble in every effort do no I do not you control the can I uh can I just one second Mr manager I got to respond to that look there comes a point there comes a point where you have to stop making excuses you control the commission you control the manager you have complete and absolute power here in the city to do as you please absolute power stop making excuses while while you can't accomplish things I've told you a thousand times bring legislation forward bring Monumental game-changing legislation things that we've worked on here solar the underline legislation to transform our downtown Landscaping do great things do great you don't have to you don't have to dismantle what other people have done just to I don't know to to hopefully lift yourself up it's very clear if you like to do it if you want to freeze it that's fine I I I have a little bit more respect for for employees so do by the way I I don't want to tell you how I was notified I was notified 30 minutes before a budget hearing that one of my employees was being taken away that to me was that to me was uncalled for the manager called the AC the DCM called me 30 minutes and seems that everybody knew about what was going on I was the last one to find out can can I make uh some I'm sorry commissioner two Corrections you're absolutely correct I do not meet with you and I don't do side visit with you but I have never prevented any of the staff to go on your site visits may I address it may I address it I haven't finished no but may I address it no I haven't finished let me address that let I don't want to I don't want to go I don't want to go until the next thing went correct you madam City attorney did did did the manager not say in front of you that he did not want me to meet with staff outside of City Hall unless he approved it and he was present yes or no he wanted to be aware of when those meetings were happening mayor he he said that he did have the authority to tell his staff not to meet with you if that was what he was directing he author that that is again it's a continued effort to undermine me and it's the it's a it's a level of insecurity it's a level of insecurity when you shouldn't you should allow me and all these staff members here have met with me with residents and I always say the same you can ask them all the same thing again through the manager deal with through the manager but let's bring this to light through the manager again I have uh although I do not meet with you and do site visits I do allow my staff to do that number two is on on the promotion of the employee you were advised that we were going to select her and you were advised by the DCM to work what was your schedule as to when you could release her to come to work for for my office office and your response was she can go on Monday that was Thursday or Friday on Monday uh the the third thing I'll say I respond to that may I cuz I want to make it clear I want to make it clear first off you have a person why would I want somebody in my office who we trained for two years who is an amazing amazing employee working in my office for an individual who went and falsely claimed that I accosted them and that there was that there was that there was a that there was an exchange that was potentially violent in my office when the ACM when the ACM was there I don't think we should get involved in criminal investigation should not be disced done I'm not done yet I'm not done yet so you're going to have a person who comes into my office that has that has been working with me for two years and it's been brought down to an individual who won't won't meet with me who won't who won't sit down with me who won't have a conversation with me and you take the employee that works at my office and my answer is like very simply if she's going to work for you I found out about it almost 2 weeks after she had been interviewed after she applied and she had been interviewed and and then she was leaving already and the decision was made to hire her and that was told to me by the DCM 30 minutes before our budget hearing where we discussed the lowering of the milit rate which did not happen so I'm correct am I right or wrong Mr DCM you called me 30 minutes before that and you said that you knew for a few days that was August 1st right yes Mr Mayor I call you as soon as she accepted the position that's when I call you and told you we have interview your staff and she accepted the position and I offer you the two weeks customary notice and you know you said and I said she can start on Monday so let me and then I said let me let me find somebody to replace her let me activate the position and let's start moving forward immediately to fill that position because as you can tell by the workload by the phone calls by the emails you add up the entire commission they still can't produce the amount of work that I produce Mr manager when did you advertise the position for uh the second position in the mayor's office it was you know August 1st mayor was notified when did you open that up for to be filled the position that we filled no the one upstairs uh Raquel could probably answer that I don't remember but hold on I I I want to mention that we sent an email to the manager it took me three emails three emails and Mr Fernandez commissioner Fernandez who harped about Peter glacius Peter glacius Peter eaus the manager did not respond to me until the third email and then and then I wrote him an email clarifying with dates and times how he had not responded to me asking me are we going to activate this position that is a public record and you know it is and it's correct so the bottom line is that imagine the mayor of a city who can't talk to the manager who the manager doesn't respond to him my email and it's perfectly fine I work around it I work and now you're trying to take an employee from me it's okay if that if that's if that's what the commission wants to accept I'm fine with it but let's stop playing the game of what we're doing here I mean it's it's pretty ridiculous so Mr manager can you please um provide us a date the position was opened up for advertising uh I I have to defer to Raquel because honestly I don't remember but Raquel can tell you that the fact that I had not signed the requisition did not stop the advertisement because I said specifically I don't want anything to slow the process down go ahead and post it I we'll look at the requisition uh when I get an opportunity but go ahead and post it and do the normal work so when was it posted I'm asking for the specific date but it was immediately after um the position was accepted the city manager's position was accepted it was immediately within a day or two it was posted for adver for um we advertised it immediately so that was before August 1st I don't know the specific date but um I'm getting I'm just asking before or after because August 1 was the day that the mayor was notified I ask you a quick question simple question just as an HR professional and as an attorney if you're going to hire somebody from somebody else's other office correct let's say you're going to hire somebody from our city attorney's office you're got to hire Gus right for a position isn't the common isn't the common courtesy isn't the common courtesy if Gus applies to the position you call the director and say listen we're going to interview we think they're very competent they're very capable and just to make sure that everything is fine you know if we give him the position we're going to immediately move forward it's just just common courtesy as professionals that you offer that is that what we do what's the policy so there is no policy right so I I would I would argue well there's no policy but I would I would I would take the position that sometimes it's on the employee to let their supervisor and their director know that they are at you know that they are applying for a different position I think it's a little it would be a little bit awkward for me to call Christina before giving the position to Gus letting him know letting her know that that Gus is going to interview for that position right I think it's more on the employee to advise their supervisor but it's not it's not um listen that still doesn't that still just because the manager is quick to say thank you and I I understand that um but the issue is the mayor writes you an email and says are you going to are you going to move forward and open this position so we can start feeling it he doesn't respond to the third request third I literally write third request email please can you feel it's a public record it's an email so you can say thank you all you want but at the end of the day it's obvious you're trying to make it as hard as possible on me and it's okay it's fine listen I'm I'm an adult I'm going to move forward I'm going to keep working hard we're going to still deliver for the residents and we're going to keep moving forward but don't make it don't make it seem as if you were trying to get out of the way Iman and open the position as quickly as possible because you couldn't even answer an email and it took three requests I want to comment uh Raquel what you said in terms of no policy we have to look at the other side of the coin if you're an employee in a department let's say and you apply for I would imagine a promotion basically an increase but you don't get the position most employees just don't want that department to know that they were planning or trying to move out of the department even though they have every right because probably salary increase uh greater responsibility so I understand if you're Department director you want to know but most of the time employees feel uncomfortable um prematurely announcing something that they don't know if they have or not the other thing I just want to mention I I hope we can bring this in for land I know we have a a 4:30 um time certain but you know um we started out comparing sizes and it went downhill from there so I hope we can sort of bring this in for landing and move on so I do have a date so it was aded you can always count on commissioner Manis to have a funny joke or or a movie reference I love it it was advertised on August 1st um through the 15th do we have any applicants so yes we received over 100 applications and we are in the process of they were um they were they were screened and the top 15 have been selected and they were in we were in the process of scheduling interviews um in the next week or so and by the way that's where we are in the process clear very clear we ask some I don't even want to know who the 15 are I want staff to select the 15 we were very clear in email I said don't I don't want to know I don't care who the who those individuals are long as they're competent and you state that they're the best so commissioner for commissioner Fernandez I share your same sentiment actually this is something that I was discussing in some of my meetings um in in the city manager's office so surprisingly you thought the same way and I would be more than okay with you with the the mayor having two positions if we can at least have one for each but we can't it's not in the budget it's not a possibility we we've already added one before the budget was yeah but we have 2 and a half for four people I I understand and I told you that what my needs were okay and I'm you know I've been here and I've been coming to this building for many many years and I see the volume that the mayor handles not just this mayor but prior Mayors the demands on a mayor office is much greater and so I think rather than trying to take Pock shots at each other and comparisons on email volume Etc because yeah I I mean yeah I respond to emails at 11:55 at night M I'm not up at 4:30 in the morning just can't handle that but you know we all have different schedules let's try to move forward and I think it's been pretty well established that the demands of whoever is the commanderin-chief are greater than than those that are that are not uh everybody's going to go knock on the door of the mayor's first everybody's going to want to hear from the mayor first so rather than trying to do this type of comparison back and forth let's move forward is that a I think I think as a commission we'll accomplish more by working together is that a res it's difficult when the mayor has no intention of working together with anybody and he's made that very clear the fact the rest of us and I and and I I have to give you credit you have worked with us every opportunity that you've had and I appreciate that but the mayor has made it very clear and he goes out there he tells people tell Fernandez Castro and Menendez I'm going to destroy them and then he has his Pack Attack us and then you find out that the information that the pack is using has been provided by his staff which is even more concerning completely absolutely I I hear you I hear you and all I'm asking for is freezing the position until we have a disc a further discussion during the budget by the way that's my motion it's the same it's the same and before we move on to your motion it's the same thing that you do with Gable's Insider political delito and you do a Maria Cruz you you you you you research and you research and you research and you dump things out there and you just try to destroy my reputation and you continue to do it and again at the end of day it is what it is it is what it is but the goal is should be to put legislation forward deliver on behalf of this community and be able to say this is my resume of accomplishments not up not of my resume of what I've destroyed so commissioner Fernandez I'm going to ask you this rise above it let's do what's good for the residents let's not try to peel back a position that has been been demonstrated as needed for long before the mayor Vie became mayor and I've spoken to former aids to to Mayor to former mayors and they said the second position really wasn't necessary it was something that was just added to the budget let it go let it go it's not worth the argument you have a motion is there a second I'll second that Mr clerk we have a motion Mr Mayor before move moving forward I have members of the public requesting to speak on the item perfect first Speaker Mrs Maria Cruz Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road like I told you today was going to be a good day and still going to be a good day because I have a solution 2023 because that's the only complete calendar year that I got you all had meaning the Commissioners had a senior commiss commission leason 39,000 a little less than 500 two of those and a part-time 31,000 so when you add that you can see the major office had a chief of staff 2023 I don't have the new 20 24 okay because that's all I could get for the whole year Chief of Staff I wonder Chief of Staff I know Miami has Chief of Staff but how many people work in that office that there is a chief of staff for 9,1 16584 and not a community a a commission Le somebody an administrative assistant to the mayor for 52 40486 when you add those two numbers it's a 143 57070 okay now he could have two assistance at the rate of the senior commissioner uh people 39,000 each you could have two for 78 actually you could have three for a little more a little less than we he's paying for one Chief and one assistant to the mayor easy easy and I'm not believe I don't believe in letting people leaving people out but I'm sure that we could find a position for the person so she doesn't lose money she's excellent so she doesn't lose money that she could have the same salary someplace else and and the mayor could have three people for the amount of money that he's spending now see I came up with a solution three people for the price oh2 okay or maybe two people and save money because two people will be 78,000 I don't know the difference I don't know why we have an administrative assistant for 52 when the senior commission son is 39 but of course the chief of staff is a big problem 91,000 to manage staff what one in one I don't know I don't understand and if anybody doubt it doubts it I have the print out from that I got through public records because I don't use fake names I use Maria Cruz when I ask for something everybody knows what I ask for I don't hide between fake names thank you thank you next speaker Mr Mayor Jackson Holmes hi sorry to take up your time it's been quite a day here save all these big things up for a month um first I want to thank mayor logo for rescuing me from a nervous breakdown uh over what I thought that was a general obligation Bond IE a tax increase but he and the finance director Miss Gomez explained that uh you all can do bonds inside the shop that don't affect taxpayers so thank you mayor logo um you don't have a lot of time so I'm going to get to my support for what your motion is uh commissioner Fernandez um and with regret I mean let let me just mention Vince log and I are uh you know at the Alamo uh getting slaughtered over the uh safe mobility Hub and we have that Bond and nobody can shake it I I could say more but I I want to then save time by criticizing uh mayor L how can you be attacking uh people for trying to get free of developers by raising salaries for Commissioners you've totally miscast this whole thing you try to say that they're greedy when in fact what they're trying to do is get independent of development money so I I really can't you're getting the karma okay uh and and so I think that the your staff position should be eliminated thank you sir I I just want to put on the the record that the position that we're talking about is not a position that is filled I would completely disagree if it is to get rid of somebody that is currently here I would 100% be against that right now that position is vacant and this would be a very easy and fast transition by the way there was some comments that were made before by Miss Cruz about about uh payments you're talking about a person who's been in the city for 10 years it's called loyalty pay and also with the previous city manager and the HR Director will tell you she was tasked with handling our issues uh during a significant transition uh to deal with to address Tallahasse we went up there and received record record amounts of appropriation so it was just not only the office she was dealing with talahasse she was dealing with other issues and you're talking about a person who started at the bottom here in the city working for all the elected officials and has worked her way up so another thing that's done here that's done here on this commission that's never been done before and it's like probably one of the most distasteful things you can do and I know that people who come from Miami Beach and the City of Miami have also told me that they've never seen anything quite like that is we actually talk about employees on a commission floor if you want to talk about me and you want to talk about the manager the City attorney and city clerk I don't have a problem with that that's perfectly fine we're all adults and we can do it but when you start bringing up when you start bringing up staff members and how much they make and you start saying that that is you're you're ridiculing stuff and you're demoralizing stuff and at the end of the day they're not to blame they're just doing their job but if you want to you want to freeze the position we move forward Mr clerk is there anybody else left to speak or no mayor I just Mr May I just want to uh recap one thing here in when we were in Tallahassee the time that Chelsea was uh given that promotion it was something that the entire commission including commissioner Menendez supported um I think the bare minimum bare minimum and I not that I agree with uh freezing the position uh based upon the volume of work that I historically have seen Mayors uh engage in some Mayors are more active than other Mayors you happen to be one of the more active ones is that at the bare minimum there should be a part-time position there so that you can transition into uh you know if you lose your full-timer you have someone that you can transition into and I feel very bad for all these people that have put out 100 applications for this position to now today learn that you know this commission is going to freeze it um you know it's been 27 days that that position was opened up and and advertised by the uh City manager's office um to now be um advertising it as as a uh non-existent position at this point so for um the the good and the will of of the city and the residents to receive the services that they expect from this commission I I think that we need to take the high road and uh do the right thing uh at the bare minimum have a part-time position in there in the interum thank you so we have a motion in a second Mr clerk could you pull up the public record request to clear up those numbers uh yes sir so the Miss um M mury Cruz had requested the cost to for the wall of mayor's office uh the invoices that were provided to her totaled $1 14,719 um I'll go ahead and put up the invoices uh one that was provided to her was the actual it cost for the installation of the key card equipment and then and aside from that it's the cost for the actual buildout of the wall which was $1,480 so let's talk about it here we go so if you like you can have Peter glacias I don't know if the ACM were you here DCM no you weren't here was anybody else in staff here also available will you here Mr Diaz I was I know that our previous historic I know that our previous historic director was was was here so I can't ask Anna peris to discuss it we tried everything in our power to do a simple glass enclosure we needed to have a a separation in the walls we had people who were like I mentioned before we had people who were having conversations in the boa meetings they were they were using my bathroom they were walking into my office we had issues and you can you can ask the chief uh in regards to certain things that in my opinion safety issues that we had had with individuals who had showed up to my office and were dealing with my staff and they were nervous we tried to do everything in our power and staff was very clear the historic said we need something that matches the city that's why we made we made it to match the wood we did a design and it cannot touch at all or drill into the existing infrastructure so it had to be a piece of furniture that can be moved around so at the end of the day all my colleagues have some sort of esw where you walk in and you see a receptionist or a secretary you have that I do not yes you do my office is at the top of the stairs and by the way the question wasn't about the design or what it was the question was you us an invoice for $7,200 when the total is $144,700 let me let me give you let me give you something but if you have a separate document then the clerk's office doesn't have that as what was actually paid this is what I have $7,000 so let me give you I'm going to leave you with this I'm going to leave you with this concentrate on building your resume is full of Destruction all right so we have a motion in a second did you clear commissioner do you mind repeating the motion the motion is to freeze a position until we have the the budget discussion we're talking about potentially freezing positions to use money for City Hall I think this is a position that's currently open that could be Frozen and eliminated for next year that way we're not taking away an implication from Solid Waste or other areas that I don't believe should be impacted that would be 30 about 30 days max right so it's it's until we have we the the basically until the the budget is complete um Mr you may decide to fund the position in the budget but I want to freeze it now I don't want to put those people through an interview process if the position is is is eliminated coming uh this coming budget Mr clerk I'd like to make a public record all the emails all the phone calls you know what I what I said today so that people who want to obviously understand a little bit more what the responsibilities of the mayor's office is and what it entails that it's a clear public record if anybody makes a public records request thank you vice mayor Anderson no commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes mayor logo no as a matter of fact you know what it's so absurd that I'm actually I think I'm going to vote yes that's how absurd this is this is the circus that we've become and I must I I will actually join the circus and ask my colleague the vice mayor to join the circus with me vote Yes on this sure I'll I'll vote Yes yes it's unanimous so the circus continues all right moving on before we hear before we hear I would like to end on the projects I almost going to take some time can I'm just going to do f 11 very quickly discussion regarding artificial turf in front of yards and ensuring residents are aware of what is permitted under the city regulations this is simple we're getting a lot of calls a lot of calls and staff is overburdened overburdened with the rules there there's you have a lot of subcontractors that are coming and taking advantage of homeowners and saying hey you can put full grass throughout the throughout your property even on your front lawn and then these people get cided by by code enforcement which is appropriate I don't believe in we should have full allow full grass in the front I don't think it's appropriate unless you have a wall so people are having to become creative either putting hedging building walls so they can keep so they can keep um their full grph um we need to we need to figure out a way that either we notify these these grass companies and tell them that they can't do this anymore uh maybe a pamphlet that we hand to them in when they come to get a permit and explain to them or maybe we use Martha and we send to Residents you know please or we do all three Please be aware that you're not allowed to put grass full grass in the front of your property so the issu is the fact that they're not coming from permits and that's that's the problem this is basically work without a permit but no but they're getting the work done throughout the house but then these individuals tell them hey you can do it in your front yard too so before you know you got your side yard you got your backyard there isn't a there isn't a blade of grass and they come to us we had two of them last week that I dealt with on Friday just one meeting and uh and Douglas remir can tell you was over an hour long meeting with this resident and he's a physician in this community I never met the gentleman he came to visit me and he was just I spent a huge amount of money on this grass now you're telling me that I can't keep it I mean I can read the code section it's very simple it's basically a quick two lines that explains where and where can't be approved um so in single family residential and in mf1 zoning districts is allowed within the rear yard with an acceptable buffer as determined by the public works landscape service division now all other locations may be approved only if site conditions limit landscape options as determined by the public works landscape service division so does that mean it can be installed in the front of the house if you have a wall if it's not visible from the street it is it something is a determination that needs to be made by our Public Service team so it's just a matter of getting your permit go through the process and if in your particular situation nothing else can grow there it may be permissible what I would like is simple and we have a lot of stuff I just want to go over these last two it really quick um I would really like really like to have a have a for you to have a conversation get all the ideas so that we can notify people in this community to not make this mistake it's an expensive mistake and also to notify some of these subcontractors who install the grass maybe maybe we put up a banner or maybe we put up a handout at at at the perm Department please do not get caught doing this because they're going to have to remove it they're going to have to remove it but if they're getting caught that means they weren't in the permitting Department cuz they would have gotten a permit okay let me let me reader what I just said before I was with Douglas Ramirez with a surgeon who came to visit us he pulled a permit for his house but when when he when he didn't realize that the subcontractor had said we're going to do your backyard we're going to do your sidey yard and by the way we can do your front yard too the gentleman never pulled a permit for the front yard he paid him for all that work he didn't know what was happening so to make our long story short I think we need to have a real educational campaign for the residents and also an educational campaign for the subcontractors so they don't take advantage of people and add additional work and scope on a permit that is not really there a question when we issue the permit it's specific to where on the property the side the back is there a if obviously maybe it's too convoluted but that they get a permit for the side or the back is there somewhere that we can add this is not in you know pertain to the front meaning make it clear on the permit itself so I'll defer to uh development services but my understanding is a survey is supplied and a site plan depicting where the product is going to be installed so when your final inspection comes out a zoning official will inspect the property and obviously you've exceeded the scope of your permit you're going to get cited my my the reason why I asked is because I think the mayor made a very valid point um the professionals that are doing the actual installation and work that's one thing but the resident is following the guidance of the professionals they hired and they're the ones processing so if in the permit itself in bold this is not include the front any Resident will see in bold oh wait a second but the city says I can't so why are you don't forget don't forget you have to to that point don't forget you have to sign the owner owner has to sign the permit even with the contractor and the owner has to sign the permit so what ends up happening give me the example of the surgeon this gentleman comes in with his wife says I did my beautiful home his Landscaping was amazing I installed this F grass in the front I paid a huge amount of money I got a permit but then you hit me with a citation and we said it's not allowed and we can't allow you to do it so you're in a position where we have to say remove the front yard or you got to build a wall so it's not visible cuz you can have grass in your front yard as long as it's not visible from the street you put a wall you can have it because that maybe an area where where grass doesn't grow I've seen it done before as long as you can't see it when you're walking on the sidewalk or when you're driving by this is something very simple if the resident looks at the survey of what was permitted they will be very easily able to tell what was permitted or not if this is happening is because the resident did not look what was permitted basically let me let me let me let me reiterate I'm thinking I'm not maybe maybe I'm speaking this is something I got I got I got to explain to you let me give you the example of the surgeon the surgeon doesn't know anything about full graphs he doesn't know if it's allowed in the back in the front he calls a Company the company says we're coming over they give him a quote he gets two or three quotes this is what he told me he said okay perfect I'll go with you okay I'm going to go get a permit in the city he goes to get a permit but he never includes in the permit that he's doing the front of the yard because he knows that the city's going to say no can't do it he installs all the all the all the phot graphs and then what happens 6 months later he gets hit the doctor gets hit with a citation because the subcontractor installed to make more money installed F grass in the front which the poor doctor accountant lawyer engineer whatever thatan doesn't know what the rules are here every single day that doesn't make any that doesn't make any sense I'm sorry because the process right here would be if you have a permit guess what happens after you get inspections right or wrong if you exactly now if you get inspections the inspector would be able to tell that there is artificial turff in areas that is not permitted therefore you will not get a final inspection therefore you will not be getting a citation 6 months after let me help you again okay so you understand they do the work which is required for the permit which is the the side yard and the back then they come back after they finish their inspection he's going like this because true it's after the fact he comes back and they do it after the fact hey I had to go order more let me get the inspection they finish the inspection they gets approved they close a permit and then a week later two weeks later a month later two weeks later say hey I finally got the additional Gras let me come to your house and install it and they pay the difference and they don't get caught for 6 months they don't get caught for a year they don't got for 3 years but then the person comes to me and says hey you gave me you gave me you gave me a a citation for the city they called my office I like to meet with you I said okay we meet bring me your permit bring me everything I don't have that information I don't have the drawings but I know that I pay for a permit you see you see I PID for a permit you see and I said you did pay for a permit but the problem is that it's not allowed in the front how did how did they do it he goes well I wasn't there during the day when they did it I don't know if they called for an inspection these are people who work every day they're not staying on top they're not running this project so I'm just all I'm saying is I'm saying I'm not here to argue okay I'm just saying this is a problem that we're facing in the community I've gotten multiple people I brought them to your attention that we just need to be more Vigilant and we need to potentially do like what the vice mayor said is on a permit say you know you cannot install you cannot install full grass in your in your front yard like when we like when we have a permits and you have a certain amount of of 20 and 40 yard receptacles bins for the garbage you know there's rules people know what the standards are we tell them you know there's certain caveats that we abide by when you fill out a permit you know that you could you can do certain things you know you have to call following inspections I'm just saying that maybe we put a little a dartboard with a pin and say Hey listen be careful you know in regards to full grass you can't put it in your front yard I'm not asking to write a law I'm not asking to do anything out of the normal I'm not asking for just asking just educate people you don't have to go against me on every single thing just educate me it's like it's like pet waste bags yeah that's it that's by the ways that's it and by the way again and there are people that you know human nature will have it done knowing that they shouldn't and there are people that they're focused on their life and they let others do it and and no fault of theirs they got done so I'm you know I want to protect those people and if we do something you know like I mentioned earlier in bold somewhere this do not apply to the front what happens is with that simple effort you avoid 99% of the headaches later instead of spending resources on trying to fix or how to deal with a resident we don't have to do it because we already on the up on the front end already made it more clear than ever so just that effort alone clears up your time and your resources on the back end because you know excuse me I'm sorry about that um I sat down with a lady in Coco Plum very nice lady she's a doctor she's from Africa amazing woman she came to me and says but why are you singling me out when everybody in Coco Plum has has full grass in the front you can see it she goes I thought that was okay that's what I was told there there there there just lacks information it's not st's fault it's I think it's subcontractors who are taking advantage of people and you got to go out to them in the sense of you got to educate the people so that when they sit down and say hey I know you can I know you can put grass on the side and in the back but in the front I can't right you're correct you know there isn't an inspect an inspection it's not going to fix this this is very simple it's people doing it after the fact just like you said right in the reality is there's probably something will grow there because Dena has amazing talents on on finding things that can grow in the worst conditions and how to improve the soil conditions you know when they're poor to get something to grow so I'd rather have the homeowners educated uh before they get taken advantage of by by contractors and and that's the bottom line I mean I had the same suggestion too when I re roofed you you mentioned Dena you mentioned Dina she was in the meeting with the doctor and I felt bad for the guy he was like what do you mean I you know he was like taken aback by the fact that we were coming after him over over the you know over the faux grass you know and we had to tell them no correct yeah if you're not able to see it on the plans that it's not permitted I think what would be most effective would be a communication campaign outside of the permit because if you're not looking at the permit anyway because it's more than clear that on a survey where the artificial turff is permitted if you would look at it you would know something on the plans is not going to do anything if you're not looking at the permit so maybe a communication campaign um the newsletter right any other way of communication but if they have to sign something and it says it in bold whatever they need to sign off on it's the application that they sign it's not the plans they don't look at the pl what I'm saying is if we can come up with something that they the owner property owner has to sign I think that's more effective than a campaign because we've done campaigns for a million things and it doesn't hit everybody but the the individual owner they have to like sign something that makes it clear just one piece of paper one sentence I think it resolves a lot of the headaches later on and it pops up on the permitting process hey by the way fog grass is not permitted yeah you know unless so maybe something like an blessed so work yeah of course I was say work with staff and figure something out Doug RZ Deputy development services director we actually have a recurring media message that we prepared some time ago that isn't only about this but it's about a number of similar things that tend to come up from time to time where the contractor might not have educated the resident the same exact scenario we we have here it could happen with multiple other things and we tried to provide a laundry list I can revisit it to make sure that we did in fact mention the faux grass I I believe it's in there already but I'll make sure so that is already in our recurring messages with media yeah but I'm sorry to interrupt you but media doesn't hit everybody and unless they have something in the pipeline that they're going to work on they're not paying attention to that they won't look at it perhaps until they come in making a request so I don't think it I don't think that reaches the residents that we're talking about the ones that are basically focused on their job and their kids and everything else I think that might hit the folks in the industry but not the actual resident who doesn't know any better I mean how many how many people actually look and read the media effort it doesn't hit everybody on the Y green board we have a number of disclosures that people have to sign to make sure that they understand what the impact is of these loans that they're taking out yeah you know so there there's got to be something additional that they can sign fog grass not permitted in front we can we can look into providing an extra piece of paper that the owner has to sign electronically or somehow they canes the fact that you're only approved to do what's on the site plan that and later later on they can't come back and say I didn't know well you signed it so maybe for the category that there's you're you're applying for artificial turf maybe apply it only to those those applicants and not not everyone yes that's a possibility yes absolutely we we can look into the different options we'll take a look at it and see whether electronic version or a hard copy when their uh application or the permit request is for grass we'll take a look at it by the homeowner would be essential only by the homeowner yes perfect anything they get it in their inbox all right Mr Mr Mayor before you move on I have a request from the member of the public requesting to speak on the item thank you Mrs Maria Cruz I'm glad we saved you okay perfect moving on to item F12 this is an easy one I got a call from a a from a uh individual who servs on a board here in the city he tried to visit Venetian pool um excuse me he was at work uh he sent his wife she's not a born member to the Venetian pool if he goes with his kids and his wife he can get into the Venetian pool if he's not present uh he doesn't have that they don't allow him to use the facilities I think we should consider you know to to have a little bit more flexibility by the way I have never used a Venetian pool I don't play golf I've never played golf I'm not you know no interest in any of the of those type of additional benefits that were afforded as elected officials or board members I think it's great for for the people who serve this community for free I don't use any of them um and I have to preface that because people may think it's me um at the end of the day this individual brought it to my T he says look if I go with my wife and my and my two kids then they can get in MH but if I'm working or I'm out of town and they want to use a venan pool or they want to use you know one of the great City facilities that why can't they use it I don't have a problem with it I want you guys to ponder it think about it they're going to use it one way or another I me maybe they're on a zoom call maybe we require the person to be on a zoom call they take the phone with them and the on the phone I'm joking by the way that's that would be the most ridiculous thing ever you know figure something out interesting figure something out and just let people who are going to use it no matter what and by the way I think some year some years ago perhaps before Sno um I think uh those benefits were broad enough to cut cover what you're mentioning so or we can bring the cardboard cut out of um George Mar along yeah there's an idea anyway I have no problem with it I think we should do it all right well then we will um I'll ask the DCM to to to provide me with some information in regards to bringing this back on legislation Madam City attorney so that we can make it so that it's it's feasible and that staff knows uh when somebody V visits a Venetian pool if one of the if the board members is not there but their significant other is there that they can use the facility I don't know how we're going to do it we got to figure it out I don't know they share the card they have to show a complimentary ID but then certain people don't have the same last name something has to be we at the code provision we got to figure something out cuz certain people don't have the same last name and at the end maybe it's a partner they're not married but they have kids again at the end of the day I I want everybody to be able to use a facility if someone is giving giving their time to serve this community and we'll talk to Parks about how this would have to be implemented Mr Mayor we'll confirm with staff but I I was under the understanding that the if it only extend was only extended to the board member not to their family members but I think I think for you I think it should be for for this for the the husband or the wife or the significant other to me I think it I that's what I think if my colleagues disagree that's fine but I think it should be something where where people can use it again reiterating I don't use any City benefits any I've never have I never never will I agree I think a lot of our board members take away from their family time to um attend our board meeting so I I don't see it as a as a as an issue and by the way the I've been talking to the administration and with Fred and Carolina uh supposed to come on this agenda but it's coming up next agenda around along the same line uh seniors that folks of a certain age that are on the boards uh don't play golf don't play tennis so they were looking for a discount at the youth center fitness center so that's something that I'm going to be bringing so I think it's uh um we should look to ways that we are thanking those folks that give their time to our city like the mayor said so we we'll work on that Madam City attorney Mr Mayor I have a member of the public request to speak Mrs Maria Cruz Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road I'm glad I stayed today told you it was going to be a good day the car says only the person the board member so if it's going to be a family then it should say so I've never used my C because I would have never gone by myself so maybe it's a good idea but if a while back we brought up the idea that some of us that do not play tennis and do not play golf and whatever would would have rather be able to park and we were told no okay so if you want to be flexible we need flexibility some of us would rather be able to park anywhere I not have to pay mov moving on to the final item before we we move on to our time Stern that I apologize we're late F3 um the clock of Miracle Mile uh I had spoken to the clerk and he hadn't heard much about it uh I saw the post on social media that it's it's been installed um but I did have a couple of questions we had approved the clock manufacturer's donation to the city and the mayor was going to pay for the installation the I the post that I saw said that you had donated the clock to the city so did did you actually end up buying it I paid for a portion of the clock yes they gave me a good discount for I think am am I I just want okay let's let's go back hold on a second let's go back I am donating a clock an fpj clock to the City of Coral Gables for it Centennial it's a clock that's worth almost $100,000 my colleague to the left Mario Fernandez commissioner Fernandez required that I spend the $32,000 to install that clock and pay for a permit here in the city when we requested that it would be done by the city and paid by the city when did I require that let me let me let me finish Mr clerk let me let me finish did I ever make that request no it was it was me that I asked who was going to be paying for and you voted for it but you voted for it you voted for it you volar to pay because I had another Choice cuz you were going to vote against it so I had decided to pay for it cuz you were going to n the clock if I didn't pay for it so I took the stand to say you know what I want to give the city a beautiful gift on its Centennial and do something that is positive for the city again it's the conversation we had right now about my assistant being nixed on on on the commission it's the same thing as always so my point is that I ended up paying for the permit I ended up paying for the design I ended up paying for the construction I ended up paying for all the work that had to be done there and I have some amazing by the way I was not allowed to use my firm as a general contractor or my firm to be able to use as the engineering it had to be used by separate ities and that's all public record there was inspections there was everything was done so you can search it and ask the clerk to give you a copy of that what you have here is a beautiful exceptional gift to the city that other areas like roale Drive have other areas in New York Italy France and is something that is going to draw people to our community and if you get a chance you can drive by and see it September 11th everyone is welcome to come at 6:00 and the owners of the of the clock manufacturer will be there and it will be a wonderful opportunity to see the unveiling of this clock which will be given to the city it's already given to the city because it's already installed along with all the work that was done to it as a as a as a gift for the Centennial from my family to the city beautiful number okay so number one we need to figure out what we're going to do with the resolution because the resolution that was approved is a donation from the Clock Company to the city and number two since this a donation to the city this has to go through the city manager's office for scheduling which I don't believe it has but again again it's already done it's happening September 11th it's already done because that's the only time that they can be here up to the end of the year and it's there you're more than welcome to come listen guys you're looking Ridiculous by constantly battling everything Mr that's Patriots Day create a day when people lost their lives 911 and you're trying to use it for celebration I didn't want to do it that day but that's the only should have run it by the rest of the commission which is the proper protocol to do commissioner commissioner commissioner that's the proper protocol this is a very simple thing it's September 11th at 6:00 if you'd like to be there you're more than welcome to be there all you've been is a hindrance throughout the entire process what I ask you is give back to the city give to the city write legislation don't be so destructive and constantly Mr Mayor you've been destroying the city for 12 years so let's end it at that destroying the city okay so it's happening it's happen I'm going to this it's happening September 11th at 6:00 I hope you're there I hope you're there because apologize to all the V the families of the victims of 911 that you're deciding to use that day to promote yourself because you have taken this away from the city this is a city event and you have not invited anybody on the commission you did not run the event through the city manager's office as is the proper process the city man you are and now you're saying that you're you're in charge the city manager manager does not speak to me how can I speak to the manager you speak through iite to again we're not going to get into your criminal investigation today criminal that criminal Mr manager we're in a criminal investigation now amazing um this is this is this never ceases to you know to surprise me but we're moving forward at the end of the day September 11th moving forward I'm going to make a motion to reschedule the event okay then make your motion make your motion I'm going to make a motion to reschedule the event at a date when it is not September 11th and when the city commiss follow are you literally going to stand up there and cut a ribbon for something that you did not partake in that you did not donate any money that you made it a hindrance that you objected every single moment that you could to something as spectacular as this as a clock are you literally going to make it all about yourself to just be that destructive I mean what you're this isn't about me this is all about you and that's the problem by the way about me giving a gift to the city every time that you talk down to me and call me Ariel you're disrespecting the residents who elected me to this day so I'm going to ask you once again to respect the residents who elected me to this seat and the seat toes Comm commissioner you're embarrassing yourself so mayor I just I have to bring a couple points home to you commissioner calls I received after the budget hearing about the level of disrespect on this commission including that you know just calling me by Ronda I didn't even pay attention to that it was really brought up to me by residents who called me I couldn't believe the manner in which the rest of you have were you know acting who were present here at the time I also wasn't contacted about my availability on the night that we had the the town hall commissioner Castro had her Town Hall so I never had it reserved on my calendar and I had a conflict CU I had to be at another board meeting okay I didn't raise a stink about it I showed up a little late but I showed up okay so it's out of balance here and it continues to be out of balance there's two sets of rules going on mhm okay and we're all part of it so if you're in a glass house please don't be thrown in Stones Amen to that was the me called you if it was I if it was I I'm not I'm I don't have time to go back and watch these tapes it's bad enough the first time around but the calls that I received after the fact residents were not happy about it so let's take the high road is again what I'm going to ask you to do and stop the destruction let's move forward your talking points again continue to be the same as the Mayors you're using the same language no I'm telling you I'm telling you to take the high road look at the agenda I am taking the high road and I'm taking the road that the residents who have been calling me upset about the selection of September 11th for a City Event okay res the city has always held a commission meeting on September 11th and a memorial service at the police and fire headquarters that's the only city that the C event the city has been holding on on September 11th and now we're unveiling don't make it don't make it don't make it about the city and we'll just we'll have the we'll have the opening it'll be there the city doesn't have to promote it the city have to put it just like we did with the under with Excuse me with with uh with the annexation discussion we won't send out an email we won't put it on on social media for the city we won't the city will not partake in it at all but I still welcome you to come I still welcome you to join me on September 11th it's not that I wanted that day and I even told the individuals from France I said I can't that day is September 11 is a very important day here for us in this community for the entire country the entire I understand Vince but I won't be able to come back till December and I said well I said we'll just do something at six o'cl so we can give thanks to all the people that partook all the subcontractors all the individuals that invested a year and a half of their time to bring this to fruition it's not like just drop a clock in the middle of of of this community you had to do plans you have to get engineering done you have to hire specific people to come in and do the electrical work you have to people come in and do the shell work you have to do structural work you have people to come in and program the clock you have people to come in and make sure that everything was done a property a lot of people spent their time if you don't want it to be about the city it's perfectly fine it doesn't have to be about the city we won't even use one city resource we haven't used one city resources matter fact we paid a permit we paid a permit for it I withdraw my motion okay so this is this is yeah this this is just a clock I'm asking for the same respect when it comes around to scheduling meetings the mayor never runs his town halls by by the rest of us he schedules them himself and that was a town hall that commissioner Castro scheduled and then we were informed nobody sched was check you've been here you've been here a year and a half now you've been here a year and a half now you came in you came you came in saying that you're going to do Town Hall meetings you did one and you've never had one again so my point is if you want me to cater my town halls around you when are you available in November I'll make it so you can be there no I I don't need you to cater to anybody me I'll do it I'll do it for you I don't need you to cater to anybody but just if you you told me you were going to do here Town Hall meetings I said let's do it perfect do it you've done one you never did one again in a year and a half so I'm asking you now I'm asking you if you don't I've been doing them for 12 years two or four times a year okay I'm asking you when I'm going to do one in November before Thanksgiving would you like me to do it around the day that that the benefits you you tell me what they and I will do it but show up but show up the good news is the matter he withdrew so we can move on to the next item again but it's a good thing that he put it brought it up everyone is welcome to come it's not a city event we cannot promote it anymore we can promote it's fine we can promote it it's a lot of things that we do that are not City events that we promoting that was your commitment for me to to to withdraw my motion Madam City attorney Madam City attorney if I may if it is a not a city issue am I allow allowed to say to invite people in this community to something yeah it is a city issue there was a resolution that we accepted what's going what's going to happen with that you can invite you can invite people to events certainly but I think you said that you no City resources would be used they're not so you're I'm not I'm not on print I'm not on digital I'm not asking staff to do anything I'm making a comment if you'd like to come out in September 11th we ask everyone to join us it's going to be a nice event and we're going to celebrate this give to the city everyone is welcome to join us I look forward to seeing you at 6:00 on ponon Miracle Mile thank you Mr Mayor I have members of the public requesting to speak on the item yes ma'am Mrs Maria Cruz okay Maria Cruz I guess I have to have the best for last I consider Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road I consider lying a disrespect I consider when somebody lies Everything Changes in my life May 23rd [Music] 2023 item C4 mayor's comments mayor loo can we do item C4 really quick I'd like to see if we can get just a quick photo that I brought so this is something that is being offered to the city I've been I've been to see it already in person we have some renderings that were professionally done this is a watch company called FP Jour I don't own one of their watches I wish I did hopefully one day I will but it's something that I thought was beautiful I bring it to the commission to kind of bring a little bit more cache and quality to the downtown this is just an idea if you like the way it looks they would pay for it all it wouldn't cost the city anything and if you look the quality forget it that they will pay everything then the next one is a very Boutique was company and I recommend that you look it up and get an idea they're just ideas of placement where it would go then we go further down may your life again my thought is Main and Main it could be obviously an opportunity to enjoy something that again is being donated to the city it doesn't cost the city anything except for many maybe some of the infrastructure electrical to run adjacent you probably can make it run but the actual clock is from what I understand is like about 50,000 donation to the city major Lago asked for the commission to accept it so funny that Mr Fernandez was the one that made the motion the resolution is here Mr City attorney you can read the same as I do the resolution says whereas FP join a well-renowned boutique wash maker that produces only 800 washes a year approach the city with a proposal to donate a clock to the city and whereas the City commissioners is interested in projects that further beautify the Danton area and create tourist attractions and whereas the city commission desires to accept the FP J Clock and have City staff work on possible locations for the installation of the donation somewhere in the heart of the city's downtown now therefore being resolved by by the transportation board I don't know what that has to do with this that the foregoing where as closes are herbi ratified and confirm confirm as being true and correct and hereby made a specific part of this resolution that the city commission accepts the donation of a clock from FP Jour and directs the city manager to provide the city commission with recommendations for placement options I'm sorry Madame Excuse Me Miss Cruz this resolution does not say the major is donating I didn't say this res I'm sorry the city I finish the company to donate I think this resolution and the proposal are completely different I'm sorry you all did not accept the donation from the mayor and I'm s sorry for the mayor to say this is not a city thing and he can do whatever he wants is wrong it's not a city thing the city accepted the donation and now I am donating it I'm sorry this resolution is invalid so M Cruz the donation hasn't been accepted Miss Cruz two points for the record a donation is a donation whether it's paid or it's not paid stop stop for a second please you don't have the floor Miss Cruz you don't have the floor I'm asking you respectfully we gave you more than enough time to speak I'm asking you please sit down no I'm going to answer you publish your your family is donating it that's not what the city accepted I'm sorry I would like to uh uh challenge this this is not what you all accepted you all need to change your mind this is not what you all accept Cruz my family is donating it because part when you say a donation the infrastructure the things that I had to pay to get the watch installed which commissioner Castro required because at that point we were trying to get the city to pay for the installation it was $32,000 my colleagues in the commission except for the vice mayor were willing to accept it so at the end of the day to not to not destroy this wonderful opportunity I said don't worry I'll pay for it that's it that's called a donation when you donate like I donated yesterday to a charity here in The Gables I donated money to that charity so that we can get we can do an event with the police so it's a donation stop trying to muddy the waters you're all invited to come September 11th and smile and the second point is this September 11th is not a national holiday and it's not a holiday and it's not a holiday in the city or in the state and I asked the clerk for that information so it's not a national holiday at the end of the day so let's move forward it's a day that is incredibly important to this to this community and to this country but it's not a national holiday Mr Mayor I have one additional speaker on Zoom thank you Miss Myra Jolie yeah hello hello okay okay I I gladly will take the clock whomever pay for that's fine but if they if the people who manufact the clock cannot be in the United States but for September 11 they don't have to be here they donated you don't have the right hand doesn't have to know what the left hand is doing if they donated it they don't need the accolades and they don't need to have all the cameras showing like look how good I am I'm the equivalent of the Statue of Liberty because it's France giving something for the city of coros that is very disingenuous Mr Lago September 11 is not a national holiday it's our holiday you know what happened in September 11 and it's making it not a day to celebrate it's a day day for remembrance if the F the French people doesn't have to know what happened in September 11 and if they don't want to commemorate it's fine but you saying that the only day that they are available is September 11 and that's why this is taking place that is very disingenous so if you want to do a party for the French people and then you want to have a a you know a monument saying the family gave it to the city of cor that's fine but don't tell me that we are going to move everything around just to have the people in front be here when they can be here so they can use it just go to go party I agree with Miss Cruz this is very disingenous she has more information than I could ever have but you guys are really pushing it and the whole thing about you know t for t or I did it for you or whatever just think what the residence will you be able to just move everything around just because one resident cannot make it in one day or they can make it that a specific day no the French people are not American they don't live in cores and I don't care if they if they give it to the city I'm sure they want the accolate if they want to give more clock go to to to Liber stud and give it to them that is that is more a propo yes that's what I'm saying thank you I appreciate you okay um that's it Mr Mayor we have a we have a Time certain item um E3 E4 E5 that I'm embarrassed to say we are almost almost an hour late can we take a 5minute break to go to the bathroom is that okay yeah thank you sir I was to ask is maybe when we come back I know it's a little unorthodox but there are some residents um that came to speak and maybe we could take them at the beginning of the meeting I think some of them want need to get back to their five minutes after the restroom B e e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for e e e e Mr [Music] Naro all right and welcome back to items E3 E4 and E5 Madam City attorney yes sir mayor um mayor and commissioner so E3 E4 and E5 are related we I would we would like to consolidate them for purposes of the public hearing I'll read them all into the record um E5 will not be voted on at this time but it's just on for your you know review and information so E3 is in norance of the city commission amending the future land use map of the city of cor GES comprehensive plan pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14- 213 comprehensive plan text and map amendments and small scale Amendment procedures and from single family high density to commercial lowrise intensity for lot 17 through 21 Block 14 Coral Gables Craft section cor Gables Florida including required conditions providing for repeal provision severability clause and providing for an effective date E4 is in ordinance of the city commission making zoning District boundary changes pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14- 212 zoning code text and map amendments from mixed use 2 District to mixed use 3 district for Lots 1-9 and from single family residential district to mixed use one district for law 17 through 21 Block 14 Coral gaes Craft section Coral gaes Florida including required conditions providing for repeat provision severability clause and providing for an effective date this is a quasi judicial item and so I'll also read um E5 just for your information it's a resolution of the city commission approving a mix use site plan and encroachment pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14-23 conditional uses for a proposed mix use project including live work units referred to as 130 miror and the property legally described as Lots 1-9 17- 21 and 39-42 Block 14 cor Gables Craft section and one second Coral Gables Florida including required conditions providing for repal provision severability clause and providing for an effective date um Mr clerk everyone who will be testifying today should be sworn in those who will be testifying on the item please stand and raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll provide today will be the truth and nothing but the truth thank you um so good afternoon Mr Mayor Commissioners um I think we had uh discussed potentially opening up the public comment early for some of the residents that have been here uh that would be okay we have no objections to it but I know some uh wanted to speak and try to get back to their family so if that would be okay if not I'd be happy to go ahead uh and start my presentation whatever the will of the commission might be Mr clerk Mr Mayor at this time I don't have a request to speak from anyone oh okay this [Music] gentleman yes sir Commissioners thank you very much I represent uh first of all name for the record Edward martos on behalf of uh TFO which is an abdy neighbor immediately adjacent to the site we have no objection to the project we have just one uh small request it's sort of housekeeping if you will a simple cleanup um I will pass out a copy of the zoning map that's being proposed and you will notice that along the entire block the site will be after this is approved and we do hope it gets approved will be mx1 or MX2 our one parcel which is just 5,000 ft will be single family residential I think it was just an oversight something that need needs to be cleaned up so our simple request to you all is that you please um clean this up down the road City should I think act uh apply to to make that simple change and that's all that we would ask we have no objection I ask you for a favor yes please um you can submit that for the public record I also you ask to please meet with the manager uh the DCM and also meet with our zoning director so that you can you can provide them with that information and on the record but also start working towards towards some sort of consensus we very much agree uh I'll do that thank you mayor thank you sir thank you Commissioners anyone else any other residents like to speak I think there are two and I think there's just some here that are um listening in okay but I think there's two that submitted their card to to the city clerk does anybody want to speak now and then they can do a card later sure come on up hi good good afternoon um how are you uh my name is Leona ridi I'm a resident of 30 seev Avenue for the last 43 years I came to publicly approve uh the project I submitted a letter this morning to the city clerk um stating the same thing I want to thank the company for having the clarity you know to be able to accommodate what needs we have asked of them especially Mr viscaro who has been very supportive of me uh very happy of the park you know that it is going to be built he has taken into consideration uh the needs of my granddaughter Eloise who has special needs and I will hope that this will go very smooth the people my husband and I approve the project and some of the people in the neighborhood who cannot come here today thank you thank you very much good evening my name is Brandon Thomas I'm a resident of gallano right across from the the proposed project um I'm here today to express my strong support for this initiative I believe it would be a great addition to our community and play a significant role in bringing everyone closer together thank you sir and I do have your letter for the thank you sir any else thank you so the floor is mine yes sir all right um I believe uh we're sharing our presentation on Zoom I don't know if you could see it oh there we go perfect uh so good evening uh Mr Mayor Commissioners George Navaro with offices at 333 Southeast 2 Avenue we're here this evening to present uh the 130 Amia Park project I'm here with the property owners Mr Jose Antonio viscaro and Juan moras along with my colleague Devin Vickers the project we're presenting to you is a project that has been over two years in the uh in the planning stage and also we've had over the last year and a half many meetings with residents and um many uh discussions with the area residents and we have really worked closely with uh the areir the area that directly abuts this property I remember um back in 2022 uh the mayor and the commission at the time working on an ordinance that tried to incentivize the private creation of public park space and we've seen um and this commission has approve some of these projects we've seen it successfully done in other parts of the city but it has never really been done in downtown and this owner took the challenge to find a way to not develop on the entire of this on the entirety of this property but to find a way to limit the development to one portion of the property and to preserve an entire portion as undeveloped land that could be created into some public benefit and I think you've heard from some of the residents but we've met with very many uh parks in this area area is a great need and uh we have allocated this undeveloped portion of land as a public park to meet the needs of this residence and I'll show you how we got there um after I have a chance to tell you about this property because it's a really unique property um and it took us some time to figure out how to develop this in a way that we could get the support of the residents that live closest to this so this is uh a property that's made up of three different Parcels you can see here um it totals approximately an acre of land within your downtown and these Parcels are bifurcated internally within this block uh by an alley and it's located east of pond uh just south of of your central business district and north of the plaza project so it's right between these two um areas of your downtown but it's also very near uh a residential neighborhood that abds this portion of downtown so it's a very unique situation and we spent a substantial time studying what could be done under both the existing zoning as well as what we could do as an alternative to that that may be a better solution for this property so I want to understand uh I want to walk you through what could be done today under the existing zoning and what we're proposing instead so you could compare them and I hope that you reach the same conclusion that we did and I think that the residents did is that what we are proposing is a much better solution for this problem property that what could be done today yes so have I me too so um under the existing zoning this is what could be built today obviously it's a massing with a proposed was building in the midblock portion but what could be built today these are already Zone commercial uh they're already uh allow for mixed use buildings and what you could build today are 2 97 foot mixed use buildings along Al Maria and fronting on ponds uh that would contain residential office and Retail uses and that would generate much more traffic than the project that we will be proposing to you today and presenting to you and as you can see it creates a very significant horizontal visual impact uh this scenario creates a canyon-like effect along aliria which is what we were trying to avoid uh with the project that we're proposing to you today and I think you'll see a stark difference one other important factor is that since we originally submitted our application as you all know the state legislature adopted the Liv local act which this property qualifies for and which we have looked closely at uh I'm sure you're all aware but the live local act allows for residential mixed use projects in mixed use districts such as this uh with much more density height and F than would ordinarily be permitted and the reason this option is so attractive for this particular property because it's not suited all like in all areas is that it does allow us to one build a much taller building uh but second of all it allows us to have a large amount of commercial square footage within the building um which obviously generates much more traffic but in this area of downtown uh obviously with um Apple coming in next door you know off the the office scare footage is one thing that makes the live local uh so attractive for this particular property it's also via streamlined approval process not the two-year process that we've undertaken in working with the neighborhood so in the last two months we have prepared a plan uh for live local uh that we've studied and I want to show you what that would look like just for comparison um this is what will be allowed under under live local and the composition of this uh in working with our design team applying our current plan with the live local standards it would allow us to have 92 units and almost 30,000 ft of Class A office space which would obviously be uh much more intense from a traffic perspective as I'll show you uh later in our plan one of the things that the residents spoke to us about is that they did not want to see commercial on this property um they did not want to see retail they didn't want to see office another drawback from this proposal which when we get to the next one you'll see the Stark difference is that it would have very limited open space benefits to the city because under this uh under this uh live local obviously all three Parcels would be developed not that they would all be live local but they would all be developed uh so we obviously um did not want to pursue either of these two options because my client really has invested a lot of time and effort on this project and he's made a lot of commitments to the community that he intends to keep and that's why we're here before you today with this application so this is our alternate proposal from what could be done today and as you can see rather than developing all three of these Parcels um we are limiting our development to the midblock portion alone uh and transferring the development rights that would have been uh attributed to the uh gallano parcel which is where the public park is shown and from the abing amess building which we're shifting them over and placing them solely within the midblock portion which is away from residential and closer to your downtown so from a planning perspective we think that's an amazing concept um one other important thing is that this allows us to maintain the four-story amtr building which we have learned and speaking with many residents is a building that's very important to the residents and uh important to the fabric of downtown and one of the benefits of uh of developing this property in this alter alternative way is that we're able to propose a 12,500 Square ft Park uh that serves as a buffer from that adjacent residential area um so just to walk you through what we are proposing is we are in the midblock portion only we're limiting our development there it'd be 141t building with 122 units and and 185 parking spaces uh but I'd like to add that we have been speaking with some residents in the last few days um uh including Mr F and we've committed to addressing his idea of finding a way to combine uh the number of one-bedroom units that we have to create larger units um and that's something that if this commission allows us to move forward today we will be studying and bringing back before you in the future I also want to highlight just some of the things we've done over the last six months working with the neighborhood we have reduced the original Building height which was 152 feet down to 141 ft by removing uh an entire level entire story of residential which I think is where that one bedroom uh issue came up once we did that but we are going to go back and study that um let me walk you through the plan here uh as you could see we have the public park we have our development our sold development property in the middle and the AmTrust building which is going to remain uh to the left which we have a beautiful photo of it showing um its architectural character so on the Amia piece uh what we've done is we have we originally had retail units on the ground level those you can see in the uh updated site plan have been replaced by four live work units so this project has no commercial use whatsoever we've also included a large B on the east side of the property which is almost within the center of this block which will improve pedestrian connectivity not only throughout the block but also to the park which we think is important our second through fourth floors are um the parking levels for the project um and then floors this is now we've changed the layout but just to give you an idea floors 5 through 13 uh are the residential areas and then we have a rooftop area that has residential amenities and some Penthouse units and then you can see from this image uh this is the so develop El parcel where everything is concentrated on and in the back behind the existing four-story office building just to our East is the park and this is the one that will remain undeveloped um it allows us to convert currently today it's a commercial uh parking uh commercial surface parking area we have certain hybrid Park programs that we've proposed these are not final these are just conceptual obviously we've talked with many residents many residents have very many different ideas as to what could go here uh this is just one concept where we have uh a children's playground area with some pickle ball courts which we know how popular pickle ball has become um and potentially Olympic sport I heard uh could be coming up too um in the next Olympics but um this is one concept the other concept is very similar because we do know that a children's playground is very important for the families in this area they said they don't have a safe place for their kids to play so that I think is the overwhelming uh kind of uh request that we had uh but we have an alternative plan which is more of a children's playground area which you can't see here but you shall see uh which is more of a passive park that has walking trails shade trees um you know this is an alternative concept and you could see you have uh passive sitting areas running and jogging trails and then a children's park uh that is obviously tucked to the back um sure okay yeah so in this one the children's park is in the front and the pickle balls are in the back in this concept the Children's Park actually in the back and the passive areas in the front uh but these are just conceptual uh we intend to continue to work with the neighborhood between first and second reading um if this application moves forward to try to fine-tune this but uh we have as you could see tried to incorporate as many comments as we could and feedback from the Comm Comm as to the different options that they wanted to see here and this uh just a highlight I want to show you the area that we covered uh over the last year uh meeting with residents we have over 110 petitions in support uh Devon will be submitting those into the record you heard from a few tonight I know there was much more at the Planning and Zoning Board but couldn't join us um and one thing I like to just I want to be considerate of everyone's time uh I know it's not normal to do so but I'd like to invite my client up just to say a few words I think he wanted to thank the neighbors I know he's worked very hard on this and he wanted to tell you a little bit about himself and about his experiences in working with the community uh and then I'll just do some minor housekeeping stuff and we'll be here to answer your questions thank you how are you sir mayor vice mayor Commissioners U throughout the last two years I've had the chance you know to meet with you individually talk about get your input and one of the things that I wanted to come here today is to oh pardon Caro 73116 Avenue so and I'm the managing partner of kid Capital so I wanted to come here and thank the neighbors you know we've got we put a lot of Outreach Outreach has been one of the most pivotal things that we've done on this project so we've heard him from as George was mentioning on the park what are the situations and issues that they had with it we try to applied a lot of them we've reduced retail we've added more units we're going to try to reduce the amount of units in order to reduce impact so I think a lot is this final product that you're seeing which is still has things to clearer out which we promised a lot of the neighbors we would and also we will continue to work with parks and rack board it's a phenomenal team you guys have there they've been extremely open giving us the regulations showing up what we need to do so we will continue to work so a lot of this is conceptual as George mentioned and I want to emphasize on that portion and a lot of what we did and why we did the park too is also to create some sort of buffer for them you know when we saw the area and you see the maps of what we have available in downtown we thought that this part was something that pocket park in there it's something that a lot of the neighbors will benefit leonella which has been tremendous help she has been there since 1981 her kid grew up there couldn't play in the street and now she has a a granddaughter as she mentioned she's been one of the people that's been most vocal we've had an Outreach Center there for the last one the last year where neighbors have come give us their opinions sometimes in favor sometimes against us but we've been here to help them and try to implement so I'm coming to you and thank you for your time and doing this unorthodox and letting me speak but I really wish you consider that into your when you're taking your vote on this and hope you approve our project thank so before you leave uh I just want to say thank you to both of you I've had the pleasure of engaging with you well over two years on this project and when we had a conversation about what what the massing was going to be what the project was uh I had like the first day when you told me that you own the building in the front and that you kept you were considering keeping that uh and that you also owned that you wanted to do another development on on the parcel uh the surface parking lot I ask you if you'll be willing to do a park I've brought it up many times here uh to my colleagues on the commission that to transform a downtown you know we've taken steps we've worked hard over the last four years uh to add Public's 20,000 foot site to add our Molina corner site which is about 10,000 sare ft to add the boset site which you were a part of and I mentioned this was the last site that is forthcoming that we could potentially had a world class site world class Park in the area Transforming Our downtown um I have one question for you it's the same question I asked you in regards to bosetti to get my vote I need to have the park deed over to the city are you willing to give me that yes we are okay I know you were like debating whether that was a possibility yeah I want the city to be in control of the land I think it's a transformational piece of property I think it's an opportunity for the residents and you didn't have to do it you could have developed a project there you could have come in and asked for a zoning change literally the the block is all commercial even though it's Zone residential you probably would have gotten it to be honest with you it just makes sense but I think that's a that's a commitment as residents both of you I I I commend you because it shows that you put the residents and this Community First over profits yes you're in the business of making money you have a beautiful building it's going to be successful on The Gables but you could have built a third building and you didn't so CU you understand that that that amenity is going to pay huge dividends uh to the property so I commend you both of that and and I I I appreciate you for listening over two years ago when I asked you if what your plans were for that piece of property um thank you for that and I know this commission is was grateful for that and thank you all and I want one thing I wanted to say is like we are long-term holders and we're stakeholders we become part of the community of where we are so we're raising our kids here so being able to do this is such a for us is such a feed to be able to tell our kids you know 20 years down the line that we at some point were involved in giving and making this city beautiful and more beautiful than it already is and that's something that we want to do we're a young firm we're not as big as our peers and you know we're very specific very Boutique let's call it and our mom and pop but that's something that we want to do we want to create an impact in what we're doing and I think through this you know partnership in that sense we we we're looking forward to doing this with the city thank you um no I just wanted to um just thank the neighbors that were coming out and um I think we've covered everything and we're here to answer any questions uh that the commission has you want to hear from staff or do you want to okay sure okay great I'll be uh waiting good evening Jeffer Garcia planing official all right so the location as you know is three Parcels it's just east of Pont Leon between gallano and P Leon um between Alia and Savilla those three parcels in our downtown and it's that one block actually between the south southern Southern border of our CBD or CYS district and the new Plaza development as you can see most of this area is uh Zone commercial high-rise midrise um with some uh low rise in this area so um they are just north of the plaza in the image to the left you can see the plaza under construction this image on the image on the right you can see looking uh West you can see that the f future Regency Park down the block um the existing 2800 ponds building off of uh pon pon Circle Park um and some taller buildings to the north of that so they have three requests uh change of the land use of the comprehensive plan uh zoning code um map Amendment and also the mixed use site plan so currently the middle parcel is has a land use isation of commercial midrise intensity and the proposal was to change that to commercial highrise intensity so they can go above the cap of 97 ft and then also to change the land use of the parcel that's on Sevilla and gallano um from single family high density to commercial lowrise intensity and the zoning um to be consistent with the gland use uh to Z MX2 for that middle parcel to be MX3 um and also the single found residential to be uh mx1 on Sev and and gallano and the third request is a mixu site plan so right now they're proposing to um keep the four-story um AmTrust Bank building as it's known for Al Maria and Pon Leon uh they're going to be developing the middle parcel with four live work ground floor units um pedestrian arcade that wraps around the building um particular entrance for the upper level of parking to be off of Al Maria and then um vehicular uh parking um in the basement off of the off of the alley with loading in the back and then a pedestrian pastelo that connects to the public park that be located on Sevilla and gallano and then um part of this is also requesting um an encroachment over the alley RightWay for a couple of feet because of the roof overhang the board of Architects um thought would be more appropriate to MK the building a little bit differently um which encroached um in the corner the South uh West corner of the of the building um into the step back which then required the overhang to be encroaching into the rideway um the open space the requirement is 10% um as proposed today is 34.7% so much over the minimum requirement for open space uh density um they have 122 units uh f is 3.46 Building height again is 141 ft um and then they they're required to have 184 parking spaces and they're providing 185 parking spaces so DRC reviewed this back in October of 2022 uh Board of Architecture reviewed a couple times times um final approval was in April of last year they had a couple neighborhood meetings last summer and in the fall and planning zoning board recommended approval in February of this year and here we are for first reading uh letters were sent to the property owns within 1500 ft as required by the zoning code and those were sent out four times for two neighborhood meetings pzb and today's meeting as well as uh three times for the property being posted uh website was posted four times and one newspaper advertis M to date so staff determin that is consistent with the goals objective and policy the comprehensive plan recommends approval with conditions that complies with the facts of finding that you can find in your staff report in your um packet um those those conditions of approval are in the resolution on the last pages of the resolution but the highlights are to Max The Hideout at 13 stories or 151 ft um the public park on Sevan gallano as proferred by the applicant and recommended planning Zing board would be conveyed to the city uh Street improvements would include both sides of the 100 block of Al Maria to include um landscape bump outs um and and Street trees as well as the continuation of the gallano bike lane for that one H narrow block on on gallano between Al Maria and Sevilla and then undergrind utility lines along Al Maria as well that short block and then any drainage improvements of course would be at the applicant's expense here I'm here ask answer any questions if you have for me thank you thank you very much well done Madam vice mayor yes I think your M mic isn't on unfortunately my mic was off I'm very sorry my apologies on the conditions of of approval is there a covenant that will run with the land you know let's say this project doesn't move forward if we Grant the additional height can it will it restrict it to the 141 ft going yes so they offered actually two covenants one to cap the height at 144 sorry 141 ft um as well as um Covenant runs with the mx1 property the public park property that would always remain a park matter of the zoning change all right forever more yes forever more and uh okay that that was the only questions I had for you and then I have a few for Mr Navaro okay as well soy um I noticed that you all of already agreed to put trees on both sides of the street uh correct so that is so on our street we do have uh a landscape plan that's obviously improving um the frontage along Alia Sor I'm trying to get my bearing straight and the corner of gallano has some beautiful trees today which by preserving the public park we could pres by converting that into a public park we could preserve those trees uh there are some trees that are within the other surface parking lot uh there's many surface parking lots on this property but uh we are looking at how we could relocate some of those trees and something that we're trying to do uh but we are beautifying as much as possible because unfortunately this area doesn't have very large sidewalks um and we need to maintain the thorough Street cuz it's a Street in downtown and the sidewalks aren't that large and we want to make sure that people could still walk but within the areas uh we are um planting additional trees okay so Jud judging from street view on Google Maps it appears and I could be wrong that those are all black olive trees yes but they are uh Lush and the residents uh like them so we have proposed to maintain them but um obviously uh we want to work with the residents and the commission so I don't know if there's a feeling about that but I think that people in that area like the lushness and they would prefer for them to remain if possible uh especially if it's going to be a park it's nice to have very large shade canopy even though they may not be the best tree for that shade canopy but replacing them we all know how difficult it is to get a nice shade canopy quickly um no no I'm aware but yeah we had at one point proposed a entirely different landscape plan uh but we have since revised that to preserve as many trees as possible and also to try and relocate any trees that uh are viable candidates from the Alia parcel that will be redeveloped onto the park as well obviously whatever the final Park configuration and what uses go in it and where these trees could be allocated I think that's uh part of that design process but uh our intent was to try to keep as many trees as possible no no I'm I'm all for uh maintaining existing trees I know that they may not be the right species that we I would wish that they were Oaks but uh they do have a very large tree canopy there there there are other trees out there that can put in a pretty good canopy pretty quick and we can do a hybrid of that um we can yeah we can we can mix them in so hypothetically here new trees in the middle and because I'm I'm looking at some of the spacing on some of these trees and through my tenure here I've gotten sort of a tri by fire learning about what can be moved and what Can't Be Moved let's assume that some of these trees can't be moved and are you looking at the uh Alia parcel or the one Gano I'm looking at the Alia parcel okay yes there are a number of black olives in there some of them are too pretty close to each other there are a lot of trees that may not be in the best condition in there but there may be some good candidates we haven't gone and cataloged uh each one yet but uh I know that working with the residents uh the owner has gone out there and looked at some of these there's a there's a number of of them here that are doubtful um but you'd be willing to replace that in the entire entire Al Maria section from ponts to gallano have the trees on both sides as that has been a a yes but I I yeah just on the south portion only on one side the other side is built right to the if you look at the north side of go of if you look at the north side of Amia those buildings are built almost right to the property line and a sidewalk building uh so they even on our end that has uh a new sidewalk being put in we are limited by the amount of type of tree that we could fit on our side and we working with you know planning and Landscaping division have tried to find the tree that could fit within there but it's not a very large ride away that area no no it isn't but something something with shade is better than nothing I just and we do have some tall narrow trees that could be popped in in sections of sidewalk that I would ask you to work with our wonderful Landscape designer on our staff and looking for that because you know having Greenery along the street could be amazing I think it's called a white tab fits in quite narrowly Okay so we've created uh two bump outs to try to place additional trees within the areas that we don't impede the rideway with Okay so I'll give you this hypothetical question you're an attorney you can handle it assuming our landscape uh Department determines that there can be some trees put Along on this this RightWay are you all willing to do it yeah we would I think if we could keep it um without you know creating additional impacts to those businesses because we have worked with them and we have done construction staging plans on how we are going to we've done a lot of work within with our with our neighbors as long as we don't impact those businesses in a very drastic way I yeah we would definitely oh yeah I i' absolutely want we a very extensive construction staging plan on where TR move and we don't want to put the tree smack in front of their sign so it's kind of like what we dealt with in crafts where we figured out how we could uh put the it's a conversation yeah all right it was fun it was like a jigsaw puzzle but we got it done so that that was probably the hard part okay the next one is um the EV parking I understand State Legislature does not require it correct yeah that is a that we are a city that probably has the highest per capita in a way of EV charging uh I should say EV vehicles in our city yeah and I think um requ I think just so you know the type of product that we're offering um you know is a is a very classy project um and we do have in our other projects we have tenants that do have EV so even though the city code requires it but the state has you know done what the state does and preempted the city on that uh we are still proposing to provide a minimum of 10 uh but we are going to be creating the ability to expand that um as our tenm base grows knowing that more and more people every year are using electric vehicles um and seeing that in our current projects that people are demanding that so um right yeah so I think we would commit to at least 10 so you do 10 that are actually charging stations yeah 20 28 that are ready EV ready and EV capable is 37 and while you're at it you know do the sleeving at the building so it it's so much easier in the future yeah it's impossible to try to retrofit these things after we've seen that uh even the panel just put in a panel or the electrical grid that you need for that so um even though uh yes it's not required um my client's going to be providing those yeah because you you're going to have a high-end client there we know it's going to be true because this is Coral Gable so no we know what happens is in some buildings I have retrofitted they have two or three and then the tenants are all you know trying to figure out in their scheduled of the day that you know when they could charge their car and it's extremely inconvenient so uh so I've had people before we we started putting in Chargers around that are in apartment buildings around our city ask where can I charge my car you know and now they know where they're going to be able to go rent because they're not going to have to go hassle walking blocks to get back to their place so I'll give you this pointer put one of the Chargers near a handicap parking space so you don't have a complaint later on down the line that you didn't provide any charging for handicapped vehicles um so we got the Covenant we covered trees um the other item I want to talk to you about is a minimum uh of a one-year lease provision so that we don't have a short-term rental issue in that area I don't think it's anything that that it's really desired by the residents in the community I've received some emails on that regard and I also wanted you talked about doing larger units I'd like to come back before uh second reading uh with what the mix is that you're going to be offering in a way of larger units yeah so we don't know that yet um I know that we spoke with some residents on Friday who gave us this idea they'll feel a lot more comfortable uh the reason we got to so many one bedrooms is that when we removed an entire story of the building to drop it obviously um the larger units you know got divided up into one bedrooms but we're going to go back and study uh and see obviously based on our floor plans what units can be combined uh and come back to you on second reading with an updated unit count and you know an updated one bedroom before and after count and updated two and three bedrooms I think uh the community did want to see some slightly bigger units uh in that area and I can tell you my client does not do short-term rentals it's not the type of product that they do uh so we have no issue uh you know on a private side Pro offering uh that we uh do not intend to do short-term rentals and we can put that into our covenant that we have that already addresses the height so U on the park session and I'm I'm glad you've engaged with the community I want you to continue to do that Outreach and let's have a clear you know ballot procedure like we've had on our other uh pocket Parks so that the community that lives the closest and can walk to this this park uh is a community that speaks the loudest on what the park gets to be um and last part of that is the maintenance of the park and who's going to be responsible for the maintenance um is that something that you're building you know your client's willing to undertake so I think um I know the mayor um has uh asked for the park to be dedicated I think the question is if we dedicate it will be maintaining it I know we were planning on maintaining it when obviously it was a private park uh but that's uh I'm going to Madam Vice Madame vice mayor if I may um I ask you to bear with to bear with me on that front maybe we can take care of the maintenance as long as we can control the park I think it's an exceptional asset for the city and I know we want them to to take care of it but I don't want it to be a deal breaker what do you think it was a it was just an ass I didn't say it was a deal breaker I mean there's a few other people here that need to I was going to go the same place you were so so I may have a compromise um I think on the maintenance front the one concern is the liability that a private uh person would have in terms of some maintenance goes wrong and there's no cap on the liability like a municipality would have but we would convey the parcel to the city and commit to build the park obviously we would you know we would build the park based on um you know the final direction we receive and then uh that would be our commitment the which I think is probably the expensive part but yes that would still be our even if we did it over um will undertake the uh construction cost of the park that's all I have at the moment um George could you put one of the images you had that showed uh from G gallano looking West you see the park I think it's lit up or yes I've got a good at this okay that's we're going to be not having trees here or here this one no that one that one first off I want to thank and appreciate apprciate um the Investment Group developer everybody involved because I you know we had a healthy discussion earlier today about live local act and um the fact that it was made available to this property and yet you decided to work with a community to find a a final product that I think enhances the area but also uh is in line with what the community wants it's much appreciated because you took the more challenging Road and the the road that perhaps you had to work through perhaps folks that didn't quite Embrace initially the project but you worked with them to make it work for them um and I think that's very important lately there's a trend coming to the city Commission on folks that have projects that they finally understood that you have to work with community and and and it's to all my understanding is you all have so that's greatly appreciated it makes our job easier because we're here for the residents and the fact that you all are engaging them that you know it's a team effort for everybody and I have to give credit to my client on that because uh you know over the last six months he did not stop meeting with residents trying to find compromises uh trying to find ways to address their needs I know even on Saturday when it was raining he was out there uh meeting with some residents as well giving him an update so I I have to give credit to this app work you did and um with regards I know the vice mayor asked a question and it was answered and the Assurance is that the uh AmTrust building will not be redeveloped um and uh as the City attorney explained and staff said um there are legal assurances covenants that'll be there to protect that property um the reason I asked for the image is because that block is uh very very dear to me um that block actually where the pickle ball courts are uh I lived there from the moment I was born until I was about 14 years old there were two houses there there was a house facing SE seevilla on the park side and then my house was where the pickle ball courts were facing seevilla they were rentals and I lived there from birth till I was about 13 or 14 and then the 80s it was sold and then obviously made surface parking lots um I used to take my kids there go that's where Dad used to live in parking lot it's a lot nicer if I can show them a park and uh you know uh what's important to me because I know that area so well I lived it is that that's an activated Park we've had a lot of passive Parks lately but I remember as a child if I wanted to go and do something as a kid I ended up going to the youth center which obviously is wonderful but it's not something that you know unless somebody can take you uh it's easy to get to especially nowadays trying to cross L June so this if you can make sure we work together create a true family Children's Park that would be fantastic and obviously activate it and if it's pickle ball even you know that'd be fantastic um just to give some perspective the building to the right which is I think is three stories or four stories to the right on the other side of the alley that was uh on the right lower right corner white that was a full service gas station uh for many decades full service so my point is the efforts and the ideas and plans going forward you're beautifying this area that is sort of this area was always trapped between uh the core of our downtown and it was sort of a lost block and with a beautiful Park and activated and the building that you're providing and the enhancements it's long overdue so I think it's a great addition to the city but also I think very importantly for the folks that live there um this this is something I think like I've been told by residents um they're excited about and they're going to embrace so uh I think um this is uh very good for everybody so those are my thoughts I think you're going to have to explain to us what a f a full service gas station is no I'm kidding there people actually working in there yeah well we we've come a long way from a full surface gas station yeah I've seen those in the movies no movies exactly right well the cool part was and I told the story you know you all might remember when you drove up to f g they had a like a tube on the ground so that they would know inside there's a new customer so when the car would go would bing bing and they come out and clean your windshield wiper and put the gas in for you as a child I would ride my bike around that block uh especially on the weekends and I would love going over that tube to make the sound off my bike so I digress but yes uh thank you so so last question was it Sinclair or what was it was it Sinclair what kind of gas station uh I think it was like a standard or Texico or something like that it was old it was an old school gas station an Amo oh was an Amo oh thank you no no I appreciate it thank you here you go I remember myself yeah it was I couldn't remember but that's fantastic um so um first off thank you for all the efforts that that you have put in um some of those meetings have been a little heated um to say the least um but I think um you've come to a place with the community that the community is more comfortable with the project that's going in there and I think commissioner Menendez hidden on the head the option for live local was there from pretty much the last year and a half and you still decided to move forward with a project that was worked on with the community you reduced the initial height you worked on a plan where the Bank building which originally was one of the big concerns that the bank building was going to go away isn't going to go away and you still kept a park um which is not a small Park uh fairly large siiz Park you're proposing potentially pickle ball I know that we're still working on those plans but it's a need that we have in the community so I appreciate you taking that into consideration as well um I had spoken couple times uh regarding this this project and I'm glad to hear that we're looking towards uh maybe a reduction in density um I know the number we're trying to Target was maybe under 100 realistically I know that you know we may not get there but if we can get as close to that as possible I think that would be ideal uh we spoke about the demand that there is right now in this area for three bedroom units uh and that may be a solution for you um the other question that I had was the Bank building although you're not going to be able to build anything taller than that um it is an important building in this community um when that building was designed that was the beginning of the Mediterranean Revival in the City of Coral Gables uh so one of the things I wanted to ask if you would consider requesting that the city designate the building as historic I know it doesn't it's under 50 years so it's a little bit of a stricter guideline to get there but I think because of what that bu building symbolizes I think that would be something that would be beneficial to the community and I think to you to preserve that as as a beacon of history in in that neighborhood so we have we have looked at that and we continue to study it I know that uh We've presented it um and I don't know if it'll be feasible on our end to actually designate um obviously we have a lot of different uh Financial considerations on this property but one of the things that we've done because we know it's important and we may not technically on our end be able to to get that um approval to do that and I don't know if it'll meet the criteria yet for designation but um obviously this building the original building um I can't recall what happened to it but I know it was damaged and it was built almost you know in the same light um what we have done in this application which I think is something that a lot of the neighbors have uh been supportive of and have felt comfortable with is that we have completely pulled every square footage and density out of that property uh so that I mean if you redevelop it you're basically redeveloping the same building and maybe we could deal with some you know architectural restrictions on that but the property will have no development rights we've completely them shifted them into this one parcel uh and we are also as part of this application what we did is we tied that building into this dis approval and the conditions have language that basically tie that property to that site plan which has this elevation so we've done other procedural safeguards via the Covenant and basically making sure that it's not ever financially feasible to redevelop that property uh but maybe we could do something with the architectural uh kind of similar to what happened right the building was damaged and when it was you know I think it was um remodeled right significantly uh trying to keep the same architectural character which I think is what makes the building so so special and unique um and we could maybe work with your you know that's what I was going to suggest if you can just you know maybe between first and second reading have a conversation with staff about uh whether that would be feasible yeah uh cuz that has been a request that has come from members of the community um regarding the park um one of the concerns that I've heard from residents is uh the demand in a building like this and the plaza currently have on the community with dogs in the neighborhood um I know that there has been conversations about potentially incorporating a dog run uh to the park just wanted to put that out there once again if you could you know once you have the neighborhood meetings obviously the neighbors will decide what they want in that Park going forward um but just want to make sure that's still part of the conversation yeah and I think uh that was kind of when the mayor mentioned deing the over was one of the things that we thought look I mean you know we would be happy to convey this to the city because I think obviously we've tried to knock as many doors as possible and we have had five or four or five noticed meetings and you know it's it's uh there have been mentioned of dog parks I could tell you children's playground I guess and if we're ranking them is at number one uh but then there was also in the last 60 days we got uh a huge interest in pickle ball and then we've also had oh well how about like a passive area and I think you mentioned it commissioner this is going to be the largest recreational area in downtown I mean this is a very large property and there's a lot of programming that could uh go into it so it's not a park that could only serve one function it could serve multiple functions and I think it's just on how you divide it up if I may interrupt um like I mentioned earlier I honestly believe it should definitely have children's Children's Park activated because if you want passive though it's technically passive Pawn Circle Park is a block away that's a passive park today uh on occasion their events so there's already a huge passive park there and this is the one opportunity to activate it right you know and I I don't disagree with you I just really want to make sure that we don't have the neighborhood fighting that we've had on other parks and and you know you have a a general design here now but we may even be able to weave in some appropriately sized trees and stuff to add some more relief from the Sun Well canopies needed for without a doubt so we all can put our our hands into the park design and say can we squeeze that in yeah I mean I've been working with with staff and even on built more way and they're going to come back to us with a landscape design of giving the residents what they've asked for and didn't do a pres presentation of cutting in small trees that will fit right on the sidewalk and provide that shade canopy a want you know just because there limited space doesn't mean we can't have trees yeah yeah for me oh sorry sorry um and I I visited the site and and saw some of the trees that are on site the amount of shade they're providing is incredible especially in that Park component um I also saw the trees that are on the Alia side parking lot um and there are some pretty sizable shade trees that I believe would be movable there are some that that are pro probably not in a condition to be moved and there are others that have uh two trees growing out of the same base which may not be able to be moved either um but I think there are a few that will be able to provide some shade on the aliria sidewalk um and I like your idea of possibly having something on the opposite sidewalk as well because there's nothing there right now yeah that entire uh block has no uh shade on the north side of the sidewalk yeah we we fit in narrow trays and McFarland District we we fit them in along you know near the library there little yellow flowering trees um over near Venetian pool you have a little white flowering trees white tabs uh there's there's options there and you'll see them growing up right next to buildings as as if you would a palm tree but now you're getting the benefit of the shade right um I don't love the design and I think I've I've said that before um I think it could be enhanced some um what I would ask is obviously your your approval for the design is already there I just want to make sure that the finishes that are put into the building are not finishes you're going to find in you know a neighborhood that's not in the caliber of Coral Gables uh and possibly enhance uh that the look of that building uh I know you're trying to attract a clientele that is a Coral Gables uh based clientele uh that will be renting in that building the outside envelope of the building needs to look that way um so I would ask that you know the materials that are used uh in building this um look like something that fits into this neighborhood with the plaza with the Alan Morris building that's coming uh a couple blocks away uh so that it's cohesive with the look of the area yeah and I know that um um the owners already started looking at that um I know that we've done some things to enhance it um we're going to continue to study it but I think uh even if you look at the rendering that we showed this evening compared to the one that we had maybe 3 months ago uh we have come a very long way and the building does uh look much more of the standard of what you see in Coral Gables but we will continue to look at that as well all right I appreciate it I always know that you know having a building that looks like Coral Gables uh you know you it's uh it's something that definitely uh from a market perspective you know it's what gets people to want to rent in cor yeah um regarding the drop off of uh Amazon UPS FedEx how's that going to work so um one thing that we did is and I'll show you here if I could share this and um get it to work Devin I may need your help here you seem to be an expert that one okay um is this okay so one of the things that we've done I'm not sharing oh sure I am sure yeah one of the things that we've done is is we have uh oh wait this is the rooftop plan they're going to drop off by drone there you go yeah yeah yeah that's what we're doing we have an Amazon we're preparing for the future uh so our main entrance if you look um our main vehicular entrance if you look um to the east side where you have the Poo it's right next to it that's the main vehicular entrance for regular cars we have uh which is always a preference at the city uh included an access to our basement um within the alley and that's also for service as well that's how we intend to kind of uh manage that um and and that is one of the things that we worked is to try to incorporate an additional form of access to try to provide uh those types of services okay um something that I don't think you uh discussed what what upgrades are being done to the alley so if you look um at the little hatched areas in the plan those are pavers that we are planning on incorporating within the entrance of uh off of Alia and then if you look we have through our P there's a long run towards the park we've also proposed to upgrade that with papers that way you have the two pedestrian connections into the park are paved uh you know trying to Beau ify the alley um so we have proposed to pave the two pedestrian walkways that go into the alley as well that one more of a vehicular but we're doing it just to beautify it a little bit uh along our area just make it a little nicer all right okay thank you okay yeah um the park is very very important to me and when it comes to the park I'm talking the activated kids I think it talks about Community it talks about a place that you gather and it's it residential commercial and it's it's it's very nice Harmony when it comes to community and the type of residence we have in Coral Gables um when it comes to historical and correct me if I'm wrong um Doug Ramirez if they're going to go ahead and demo or they're going to go I know you're you're taking the development rights there's no development rights but if there's going to be if there's going to be a major um remodel I think it has to go through historical it does so anytime in the and um I don't know if Doug is here but I know that because uh I need to do it every time even at my house uh you have to go to historical to get a determination so even if it's not deemed historical right now in the case that there is a change in the future that something's going to happen to that structure the the bank it has to go through historical and if at that moment it qualifies and it has enough criteria to be deemed historical it will be deemed historical not obviously whatever they're proposing wouldn't be allowed correct me Veron Dr Ramirez deputy director of development services so it would be depending on the scope of work that they're going to do if they're going to do a full demolition it has to go to Historic it will not be approved unless historic has looked at it meaning the historic um historical Resources Department administrative the historic Department yeah I mean if we're just going to remodel then no but any type of major work especially uh like a demolition or a complete almost you know where you're gutting the entire building I think that goes for historical review prior to permit issuance right to it depends on the scope and how much demolition you were going to do you have to handle Case by case we look at the scope now if we feel really really strong that we don't want any alterations to that building which I think might be the sentiment of some of the some of the residents there I don't know if maybe internally we could show it to the historical department to see if it meets criteria um I've never seen that in my life I've never I mean I've never seen that before done in any City I think we should listen to the City attorney they have property rights first and foremost um I've never been on this Das and and referred something for historic consideration Madam City attorney will you will you provide a little Clarity on that so so for a property to be determined or designated as a Historic Landmark it would have to go to the historical preservation board and there would have to be an application and then a report done by staff and so that is the process this commission cannot um make that determination it would go through the through the other process for designation okay perfect so I want to okay sorry I wanted to put into perspective all the information that I've I've taken in from from the information on record and what you're asking for you have three Parcels what you're asking for is 141 in height now what you first presented was live local with live local you'll be able to go to one 90.5 The Park won't qualify for that but the bank and the the second parcel I believe would correct the two Parcels on Al Maria ponds and Al Maria if you did do Lo live local you wouldn't be giving us a park most likely you'll probably be constructing something there too I think it's um I think it's something I think it's something that I have to say to be able to put it to perspective of whoever's listening right like let's go ahead make them make the best choice possible for the community I want to thank you for listening to the community um and listening to the neighbors and reaching out to the neighbors that's that's I think that's what we've been asking for from the beginning and um and and that that's it okay um M good you have anything no I was going to say I there's two people waiting to speak on Zoom okay oh great okay Mr Clerk yes sir uh first speaker is Aurora Mata good evening Mr clerk if if they're um yeah have pleas and I'm asking Miss MAA to go ahead and unmute hello my name is ma'am could I ask you to please raise your right hand yes we need to see her on camera yes she is on she is on camera give me one that's my right hand do you swear airm testimonial provide today will be the truth and nothing but the truth ma'am yes I do than my name is a I am a recent Resident I am at and one and L Avenue and Mr visar Rondo was very kind to bring him and his wife to give a presentation to us at the palace uh many of us were there uh we all approved we all were very happy with the with the idea of a park but there's really no park around here um as far as the pickle ball uh Court perhaps only two pickle ball courts instead of four might help and he also assured me that there would be native Tre and native plants and flowers so that bees and and and butterflies uh could help themselves and help us as well so I'm very much in favor of the park and mo the people that were there at the presentation were all in favor of the park as well and I thank him from the bottom of my heart that he thought of donating that to the city thank you so very much for my the opportunity to speak to you tonight thank you Aurora thank you uh Mr Mayor the next speaker uh is I believe K carbonel but she does not have a camera that she could turn on so I am unable to swear her in all right we can listen so we can allow her to to make her public comment just keep in mind it's not considered testimony in this case m carbon give me one second okay hi there everyone good afternoon good evening uh my name is carelia carbonel I am president of the historic preservation Association and I I want to um you know I want to say my appreciation or or or to the um developers because at first um it it was very um sad that we were you know maybe going to lose who a a very significant building right at that corner which is you know um even though it's um it's a new iteration of the original but it's still on the historical footprint and and basically very very close to the original um style and so I want to thank on behalf of the preservation community that the efforts are there to preserve that build that is a really really very important decision and I hope moving forward um as other Commissioners have mentioned uh to consider a designation and um you know that that will definitely in perpetuity uh protect the building um there are situations like in Palm Beach where developers have promised to save historical buildings and then have you know 20 years down the line the building now is gone because it was not protected so um again I thank you for saving that building and um and it has a really wonderful history which um hopefully all of you have have read but um originally it was designed by fineas paste and um and then it was re redeveloped to the very specific specifics of the original building so anyway thank you and um have a wonderful rest of the day all right thank you that's it Mr Mayor so I will entertain a motion I'll move it second so to be clear is that on E3 we should do that one first E3 yes I can repeat okay okay commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Menendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes mayor logo yes next one E4 I'm moving second commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes mayor Lago yes next one so the next one will be voted on next meeting uh mayor thank you very much thank you very much I look forward to to discussing the park and the programming and everything that the residents want yeah and we uh will be back to you with uh the commitments that we made and the items we said we look at perfect thank you all right congratulations thank you so much um Madam vice mayor do you have any other comments thank you for the good of the order I do I do I want to bring up one of our favorite topics in between is pickle ball uh I checked with cable TV they had not received a flyer or a graphic to no no staff staff uh scanned it I came downstairs and you guys scanned this thing it's a fundraiser Donald McDonald House you remember I asked you if you wanted to play pickle ball I did and you said yes you would play you wouldn't kill me no don't have it anyway we're doing a fundraiser guys awesome there's a pickle ball tournament we're looking for sponsors what's the sponsorship package I'll make a copy of this for you um there's payout projections uh we have some SP already this is for Ronald McDonald House we have anything from game day sponsors from $500 all the way up to $5,000 okay uh to be part of this event there is potential cast prizes of $20,000 this is going to be held over at the built Mar with some temporary tap lines in the in the tennis courts it'll be October 18th through 19th 2024 from 6:30 p.m. uh will be opening on in on then on Saturday we'll start at 8:30 a.m. men women's mix 50s plus singles open and we have early bird discount code so I will get this to you again I also sent it via email perfect so I received that I didn't know what you were talking about cuz I was honored by them last year yes you were honored by them last year it was a great great charity great charity to be invol charity and just for the public we have this the point is to build that we have we have children that have medical needs and Ronald McDonald's house provides them opportunities to be able to stay with their children while be getting treated down at Jack Memorial uh area complex for some very complex problems they raising money to build and expand the housing there for the family to stay with the children during these these complex medical procedures so it's a great charity great C and um in case you missed it I'll bring it back again for the next meeting perfect Comm Castro um no I'll see you next meeting commissioner mandz um I had the special blessed opportunity uh this past week to travel to Rome uh to attend a conference um of basically a legislators from around the world um there were over 30 countries represented uh from England Spain Japan Mex Mexico kovo Kenya Canada lemonon you name it um we had working groups uh that discuss issues that impact countries but also local communities and um it was special because if you spend enough few days you realize that you have a lot of issues or share a lot of uh common uh challenges uh but the Highlight was this Saturday morning um our conference had a private audience with Pope Francis and um it was uh once in a lifetime opportunity for me and the Highlight was that I got him to laugh um my joke basically was we're from Coral Gables Miami and we've adopted Messi uh which obviously he's a huge Messi fan but um what I came to realize is sometimes we think that those challenges that we deal with locally and local government and in our community is bigger than it really is because when you start talking to people from around the world you realize that we're just one piece of a larger Global community and it was very refreshing and helped put me in a place of Greater perspective so I just wanted to share that um just blessed moment in my life and um that's all I have thank you commissioner Fernandez how do you follow that uh Happy Labor Day right um I invite you all November 15th uh be hosting for I think it's the third or the fourth year venos at the plaza last year you raised over $150,000 as part of this wine auction all the money uh that we raised goes to the coral G was Community Foundation to give young kids scholarships as they graduate from high school many of them have never have never um attended College of the first in their family to attend college so we did it for we did it 50,000 the first year 100 last year we raised 150,000 we're not only not only accepting sponsorships but we're also um we're also accepting as many donations from people Sellers as possible all the money uh goes goes to the coral GES Community Foundation this is the fourth year that I'm that I'm the main sponsor of the event I'm the host of the event and I hope that people in this community come out like they did last year we had record numbers um I hope that my colleagues come out sponsor bring some wine um engage and give back that's what it's all about giving back to this wonderful Community thank you God bless all of you and it was an epic wonderful meeting thank you e e e e e e e e for